Every time there is an election in Bengal, there are talks of an alliance between the Congress party and Trinamool Congress.

Though the Trinamool Congress was formed in 1998, after breaking away from the Congress, the alliance talks have been witnessed since 2001, when the state went for Assembly elections.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha and 2006 Assembly polls, the talks for an alliance had remained inconclusive as both the parties faced off each other. But with general elections approaching, the process for an alliance is underway once again.

Pranab Mukherjee and Mamata Banerjee have already had a meeting in Delhi to work out a formula for an electoral adjustment. Sources in both the parties, however, feel that there will be a repeat of what happened in 2004 and 2006, when talks failed and in Bengal the opposition vote was divided to the benefit of the ruling Left combine.

Mamata, after the formation of the Trinamool Congress, joined the BJP-led NDA and became minister twice in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led Union Government.

Before the 2001 Assembly polls, Mamata quit the post of Railway Minister after the Tehelka expose. Since then she has kept equidistance from the BJP and Congress, a stand which she officially maintains till date.

On Monday, with chances of an alliance with the Congress looking brighter, she said there was no question of her tying up with the BJP or NDA.

After she quit the Railway Ministry, the Congress had thought she would be back in the party and thus initiated talks with her. Before elections, Mamata met Congress president Sonia Gandhi but nothing came out of it.

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