If required,we might approach the Left again: Pranab

Asked if the Trinamool Congress and Congress came together in West Bengal on condition that the Congress would not take the Left support after the poll,he said,”I do not know of any such condition”.

He,however,expressed confidence that there would be a decisive mandate this time and the Congress and its allies would form the government.

The Union finance minister said with the exception of 1989,there was no fractured mandate till 1996 and though there were several fractured verdicts post-1996,he ruled out one happening this time.

Reminded about CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s recent comment that the Third Front would not take Congress support to form the government,but would accept it if the Congress decides to give support,Mukherjee said he did not see any possibility of such a front coming to power.

“I do not see any possibility that Third Front would get 272 Lok Sabha seats or get the support of 272 elected MPs after the poll to form the government,” he said. He said that the Third Front was yet to decide who would be the Prime Minister if it came to power.