Mamata to go solo in Lok Sabha polls

Happy with the performance of the Trinamool Congress in the panchayat polls, Mamata Banerjee is in no mood to join hands with the Congress, reports Arindam Sarkar.

Happy with the performance of the Trinamool Congress in the panchayat polls, Mamata Banerjee is in no mood to join hands with the Congress to form a secular Opposition front to take on the CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha elections early next year.

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In a recent working committee meeting of the party, Mamata hinted strongly that her party would prepare to go it alone.

Mamata has also indicated that Trinamool and its allies would field candidates in all the 42 Lok Sabha seats at fray in the state. This means she is out to queer the Congress pitch in its strongholds at Murshidabad, Malda and Raiganj that sent four MPs, including Pranab Mukherjee, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Adhir Chowdhury and A H Khan Chowdhury, to the Lok Sabha in 2004 polls.

Mamata is peeved as the Congress did not support her candidate Dinesh Trivedi in the March Rajya Sabha elections. She took this as an insult as the Trinamool had supported Congress candidates for the presidential and vice-presidential elections.

“There cannot be a one-way traffic in politics. The panchayat polls are a verdict against the CPM and its national partner the Congress. We have gained immensely and the Congress lost a major district,” said Mamata Banerjee.