Congress, Trinamool send positive signals

‘‘Nothing is impossible in politics. We haven’t shut the door, nor has Mamata done it (on the question of an alliance). We will have to do this in order to prevent split in anti-Marxist votes. I still have some cards which I am yet to show,’’ said Alva. According to sources, all the 20 Congress MLAs favoured an alliance with Mamata.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool chief, who left for Delhi today, said: ‘‘Even if the Congress does not want to have a Mahajot, we can explore the possibility of a grand alliance in the 1989-model when all anti-Congress parties including the CPI(M) and BJP rallied against then Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi. We can also explore the possibility of a broad seat-sharing. We should do everything to oust the Left Frontfrom power.’’ This is a significant shift from Mamata’s earlier stand that only an open grand alliance was acceptable to her.