Trinamool, SP welcome JD(U)-BJP split

Expressing happiness at the end of JD(U)'s 17-year-old alliance with the BJP, the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party in West Bengal today said it will boost the chances of formation of an alternative front.

Expressing happiness at the end of JD(U)'s 17-year-old alliance with the BJP, the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party in West Bengal on Sunday said it will boost the chances of formation of an alternative front.

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"This is good news for all those who are seeking an alternative front as opposed to the BJP and the Congress. We have been already in talks with them (Janata Dal-United) and the divorce will boost the proposed federal front," said Trinamool MP and former union minister Sultan Ahmed.

"I congratulate the JD(U) for the step. The split will dent the confidence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other communal forces. The move will enhance the chances of formation of an anti-Congress, anti- BJP plank for the next general elections," SP general secretary Kiranmoy Nanda said.

JD-U president Sharad Yadav Sunday announced the severance of the party's ties with the BJP.

Meanwhile both the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have ridiculed Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's proposal for a federal front.

"It is an utopian idea. Federal front will never see the light of the day. It is futile to expect unification of parties all of whose leaders aspire to be the prime minister," quipped state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya.

"By mere announcing, a front is not formed. Such experiments are neither sustainable nor do they inspire people's confidence. May be it's a mere ploy to divert attention from her (Banerjee) government's shortcomings or to enhance her importance in national politics," CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury said here.