In favour of national level alliance with Congress: Trinamool

THE RULING Trinamool Congress has said it is in favour of a national-level alliance with the Congress “in the interest of the country”. The party said this in an editorial in its mouthpiece, ‘Jago Bangla’. “We are never talking about an alliance other than the Congress,” the editorial in Saturday’s issue of ‘Jago Bangla’ said. Rather than a third option this time, an alternative alliance should be the direct target of the opposition. “We need to identify why the Congress has not been able to fight [polls] properly or what needs to be done to fill the gaps in alliance-chemistry [in the past],” the editorial said.

The party mouthpiece also made it clear that the TMC should be given “worthy respect” if any other party wants it as an alliance partner. “We are in favor of unity of non-BJP, democratic, secular parties in the interest of the country,” it said. The editorial added, “Our leader Mamata Banerjee went to [Congress interim chief] Sonia Gandhi’s house in Delhi and held a meeting because we want unity. [Congress leader] Rahul Gandhi was also there. Our anti-BJP stance is established inside and outside Parliament. We want unity in certain principles or methods. Suddenly if someone calls us up on the phone and says that we are organising a march, join in…. That will not work in the case of TMC.”

The editorial also takes a jibe at the role of the Congress in the West Bengal political scenario. “We do not have to renew the proof of goodwill. When the assembly election came to Bengal and parties fought us tooth and nail, many of these got zero [seats] by fighting polls separately.”