After PM,Pranab takes a Left turn,hints at alliance with Marxists

A week after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hinted at a post-poll alliance with the Left if the situation so demanded,External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today echoed a similar sentiment.

Of course,our target is to get a majority and form the next government. I am quite confident of getting the adequate numbers. But what will happen if we get a fractured mandate? We cannot have elections every second month. That will be a drain on the exchequer. So we will have to keep our options open. Nothing is impossible in the realm of politics, Mukherjee said in an exclusive interview to the Indian Express at his make-shift residence at Jangipur,form where he is seeking a re-election to the Lok Sabha.

A week back,at a meeting of the Editors Guild in Delhi,the prime minister had said the Congress would cross the bridge if the support of the Left was needed.

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The prime minister was right in saying that. If we are brought to the river,we will have to cross the bridge, Mukherjee said.

The Congress veteran admitted there was resentment in the party regarding distribution of seats between his party and the Trinamool. We have good base in north Bengal,where we got only six out of nine seats. In south Bengal,where the Trinamool is stronger than we are,they got most of the seats. I know there was resentment in my party because we were given difficult seats. But we took the difficult seats because someone will have to take the difficult ones. Otherwise,the alliance would have failed, the minister said.

Mukherjee said the alliance with the Trinamool came since the two parties have intense ideological affinities. The Trinamool was born out of the Congress. Mamata was elected MP of this party thrice,in 1984,1991 and 1996. She was Youth Congress president twice and was also an aspirant for the post of Congress president. The word Congress is there in their partys name. I mean to say there is great affinity between the two parties and I will say the alliance is working well, Mukherjee,who will hit the campaign trail with Mamata Banerjee on Sunday at six places in north Bengal,said.

Meanwhile,Banerjee who had said she would not sever ties with the Congress even after the Lok Sabha polls,refused to comment on the assertion of the prime minister. The BJP has already appealed to her to sever ties with the Congress and come back to the NDA.

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