New Delhi/Kolkata/IBNS: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Agnimitra Paul has dared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest against her arch-rival and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the upcoming General Elections, which will give Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) an opportunity to return to power for the third straight term.

Speaking to ANI, Paul, a BJP MLA from West Bengal's Asansol South constituency, said, "Mamata Banerjee and Congress are friends in Delhi. She has proposed the name of Priyanka Vadra as an Opposition candidate against Modi ji from Varanasi. Why doesn't Mamata Banerjee contest? We want our Chief Minister to contest.

"If Mamata Banerjee has courage, she should contest against Modi ji. If she wants to be the Prime Minister, she should contest against the Prime Minister. Let's see how courageous she is."

Her statement comes after Mamata shared the dias with rivals Congress and Left in Delhi for another round of Opposition talk.

"Adhir Chowdhury (Congress Lok Sabha leader and West Bengal unit chief) should shut the state Congress party office and join TMC because Congress in West Bengal has no existence. People are now aware of Congress-TMC hypocrisy," Paul said.

In a surprise move, Mamata, who is often proposed as the Opposition's Prime Ministerial face by her party Trinamool Congress, floated Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's name as the face against Modi in the Lok Sabha polls, which are expected to be held in 2024 summer.

However, Kharge has cleared the talks and should focus on winning the polls now and decide on the PM face after the elections.

Even in the last meeting of the Opposition alliance- named INDIA- no seat-sharing talks were reportedly held.

As per reports, Mamata, a former Union Minister who had run the Railway Ministry, was not happy with it and asked opposition leaders to finalise the deal by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, TMC, Congress and Left, which share the same platform in Delhi, as rivals in West Bengal, where BJP had won a whooping 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

In another surprising comment, Mamata has recently said a three-way alliance between TMC, Congress and Left is possible in West Bengal.