Alliance at national level, may fight each other in states: Mamata

Virtually shutting the doors for an alliance with the Congress in her state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said while there will be a pre-poll alliance of non-NDA parties at the national level to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, they may fight each other at the state level.

She said political compulsions vary from state to state and that West Bengal was her strong base just like Delhi was of the Aam Aadmi Party and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were of the Congress.

"We won't contest in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Similarly, West Bengal is our strong base, Delhi is Arvind's (Kejriwal)," Banerjee told reporters here.

She added that Kejriwal also wanted an alliance with the Congress but nothing was final. "Let Congress decide. AAP has agreed."

The West Bengal Chief Minister said political compulsions were different from state to state and there was recognition of that fact among the parties and she also respected those parties which could not decide about joining the alliance right away due to those compulsions.

She added that she was on the same page with Congress' Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, Telugu Desam Party's N. Chandrababu Naidu and AAP's Kejriwal who all shared a common platform against the BJP on Wednesday.

"Congress has an alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK and NCP already. If we count them all and a pre-poll alliance is made between all of us, it will be a big alliance," she said.

Asked if she would ally with Left parties, she said: "I don't know whether Left parties would join. I have not spoken to them."

The Trinamool Congress chief accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah of having sold the nation and of capturing all institutions including the media. She said the BJP was not coming back in power and that its "expiry date was over".

"For national interest, we want Modi and Shah to go out. For that, all political parties, all castes and creeds, and the whole society must unite. I am ready to sacrifice everything but won't let Modi to return," Banerjee said.

"Modi is not fit for the country," she said.

Calling demonetisation and Rafale deal "big scandals", the Trinamool leader said they would be exposed throughly after the BJP government is ousted.

She also rejected criticism that the proposed grand-alliance was pro-farmer and anti-industry, saying the two were like sisters who must walk together.

"We love industry and agriculture both. For the country to grow, they both need to grow and there should be a balance," she said.

--IANS

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