Federal structure should be strengthened: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said the country's federal structure should be strengthened.
"Our federal structure should be maintained and strengthened. We have to stay united. There are national as well as regional aspirations, but all must work together," Banerjee said at the valedictory ceremony of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the West Bengal Assembly.
Claiming that "there has been an attempt to break the federal structure", she said "if all work together then our democracy can be strengthened".
The Chief Minister appealed President Pranab Mukherjee, who was present on the occasion, to initiate electoral, judicial, political and administrative reforms in the country.

"We need complete transparency and accountability in our electoral system. We also need judicial, political and administrative reforms. With that, our country can go forward to meet all aspirations," she said.
Banerjee also took to task the Opposition Congress and Left Front for boycotting the celebrations saying it was the not the right thing to do.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, expelled from the CPI(M) few years ago, was present in the Assembly as a guest.
Expressing her gratitude towards Chatterjee for attending the celebrations, the Chief Minister said, "He has scolded us and loved us, but has been with us".

She said from 1972-1977 when late Siddhartha Shankar Roy of the congress was the Chief Minister in the seventies, the CPI(M) had boycotted the Assembly for five years.
"We have never done this during celebrations. These occasions are important for our democracy and makes India proud," she said, asking the Opposition not to see any political angle on such occasions.
Stressing on the need to rise above regional aspirations and politics when it came to national policies, Banerjee added the country's policy on external affairs was her party's policy.