As Indian PM Narendra Modi confronts his career’s most buffeting political headwinds, another feisty and brass knuckles chief minister, Mamata Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress or the TMC, is making a play for national politics in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary election. Joining the TMC recently to "strengthen the opposition" well-known Pavan Varma, well regarded politician, former ambassador and Member of Parliament, scholar-author, and a thought leader.  Varma firmly believes it is time to check the ruling BJP's hubris by presenting the country with a credible centrist alternative nationally. Pavan Varma spoke to Mayank Chhaya Reports from Delhi.

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