Mamata dashes hopes of grand alliance against CPI-M

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday poured cold water on the Congress' expectations of a grand alliance against West Bengal's ruling CPI-M by ruling out any truck with the Sonia Gandhi-led party before it severs ties with the Left.

"The Trinamool Congress was formed as an anti-CPI-M platform. How can the question of our aligning with the Congress arise before it severs ties with Left supporters?" she told here.

"We have not moved an inch from our position."

Banerjee's comments came days after she gave indications of parting ways with the BJP-led NDA. On Wednesday she remained ambivalent on the issue of being part of the NDA, but at the same time said, "How can I meet Gandhi when her party is taking support from the CPI-M-led Left?"

"It is absolutely wrong," she said when asked about reports that she had sought an appointment with Gandhi or held talks with Congress general secretary Margaret Alva, who is in-charge of the party's affairs in West Bengal.

Alva, talking separately to reporters, said she was in touch with Banerjee but suggested that it need not be to talk about politics. "I do keep in touch with Mamata, not (necessarily) to talk about politics and the CPI-M."

Banerjee said no meaning should be attached to her absence from a function organised by Leader of Opposition L K Advani to marked the screening of a film brought out by the senior BJP leader's daughter. Noting that all MPs were invited to the event, she said: "All of them must not have attended."

Indications that she was quitting the NDA came after Banerjee said last week in Kolkata: "We are now with no one and are trying to stand on our own." The statement was welcomed by Alva.