Mamata: ‘No condition’

Calcutta, Dec. 14: Mamata Banerjee is ready to tie up with the Congress, no terms attached. But she wants the Congress to reciprocate.

“We are not putting forward any pre-condition like the Congress should stop taking support from the CPM to run the UPA government at the Centre. So, the Congress should not insist on our snapping ties with the BJP-led- NDA. Let us work out something that can prevent a split in the anti-CPM vote bank in Bengal,” the Trinamul Congress chief said over phone from Delhi this afternoon.

Trinamul general secretary Mukul Roy, who is also camping in the capital, said Mamata would soon call on defence minister and state Congress president Pranab Mukherjee to discuss her proposal.

She has already written to Mukherjee inviting him to a Trinamul Youth Congress-sponsored programme in Calcutta on Sunday, he added.

According to Roy, Mamata’s letter says “we have to work out something to ensure the CPM’s defeat as people want a change”.

Although the Congress is keen on an anti-CPM alliance, Mukherjee was non-committal about attending the Trinamul programme, where BJP president L.K. Advani will also be present.

“Though I have received an invitation from her, we generally do not participate in meetings and conventions of other political parties,” the state Congress chief said.

“We want the Congress to forge an electoral understanding with us by not putting up candidates in those Assembly segments where we are strong enough to take on the communists. We shall also not field our nominees in places where the Congress is formidable enough to tackle the CPM.,” the Trinamul general secretary said.

Mamata has also prepared a paper detailing how seat adjustments could be worked out with the Congress.

The document, which she is expected to give Mukherjee, has been prepared at the instance of senior Congress leaders.