Bengal will lead India from Delhi: Mamata Banerjee

Visualising a larger role for the Trinamool Congress in government formation after the 2014 general elections, Mamata Banerjee on Friday expressed confidence that her party would be a key player. "Bengal will lead India from Delhi," Banerjee told a meet of captains of industry here, a party MP quoted her as saying.

"If Bengal is running Bengal today then Bengal can run India tomorrow," Mamata reportedly told the meet which was off limits to the media.

Emphasising the importance of regional parties in national politics, she was quoted as saying, "Regional parties understand better regional and national aspirations."

Banerjee, who parted ways with the Congress last September by withdrawing support to the UPA government on the issue of FDI in retail, said that most national parties "are self-centred like the Congress." Naming the Congress, but not the BJP, she said "they bulldoze and try to get their way."

She also made desperate attempts to clear confusion regarding her hands-off land policy while interacting with the industry captains at the conclave. "She clarified her land policy, which was approved by the state Cabinet on Thursday and there was no confusion among the businessmen regarding the land policy," Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brian told mediapersons.

Nearly 600 industrialists from across the world, including India, attended the meet. After the event, Mamata flew to Delhi to attend two meetings with industrialists.

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