Mamata: Plainspeak

Krishnagar, Jan. 12: Mamata Banerjee today said she would not allow the Congress to forge an unofficial alliance with her party at the grassroots without a formal electoral pact.

Addressing party workers in Ranaghat, 65 km from Calcutta, the Trinamul Congress chief said she was still open to an electoral alliance with the Congress.

“My repeated appeals to the Congress have failed to move it from its rigid stand. But I still want it to be part of our anti-CPM platform. They (Congress) are probably thinking that there will be unofficial seat sharing at the grassroots level. But if this is done, people will be betrayed. In politics, we should maintain transparency,” she said.

Defence minister and state Congress president Pranab Mukherjee has said that a poll pact with the Trinamul was not possible until it severs ties with the BJP.

Mamata told the party workers that the Trinamul Congress could defeat the CPM in the next Assembly polls if they work tirelessly.

Though Mamata threatens to issue a whip on her followers to shun the Congress at the grassroots, the last Lok Sabha elections as well as the civic body and panchayat polls have witnessed unofficial pacts between the two parties.

“Have you seen CPM leaders these days' They are hiding from the election observers and have been forced to admit that the electoral roll is full of bogus voters. The people of Bengal now know what kind of elections had been held during the Left Front’s rule. The poll observers have exposed everything. Even people from Bangladesh come to vote,” she said.

“Wait for a few days. Bengal will definitely see a change as the Election Commission is cleaning up the electoral roll. But at the same time, we need to be honest and sincere. If we fail to create an impression on the public, we won’t be able to unseat the CPM,” she told the party workers.

Mamata, an MP from south Calcutta, did not rule out the possibility of her contesting in the Assembly elections. “The party will decide on the matter,” she said.