Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she will maintain an equidistance from both the CPM and the BJP after the elections.

Speaking to mediapersons at the Kolkata Press Club on Sunday, Mamata said: “I will not support any government formed by the CPM or the BJP.” She said her party had no ties with the BJP and expressed confidence that Congress would form the government without the Left’s support.

She came down heavily on the CPM for attempting to link her party with the BJP-led NDA even after her clear declaration that she will support a secular government in Delhi with Congress at the helm. “The CPM is hobnobbing with leaders like Chandrababu Naidu, Jayalalitha and Navin Patnaik who were once with the NDA. If the CPM is so averse to the BJP, then why are the Marxists in dialogue with such leaders?” asked Mamata.

She also responded to the CPM’s allegation that she did not attend the minimum number of Lok Sabha sessions mandatory for an MP. “I was not allowed to speak on the floor of Parliament by the CPM. Moreover, for the last three years, I was busy organising movements in Singur and Nandigram. To me, the struggle at Singur and Nandigram was much more important,” Mamata replied.

The Trinamool chief also made it clear that she will oppose the SEZ at Nayachar and no government has the right to forcibly acquire land from the people in the name of establishing business.

She reiterated that the Left Front government would have to return 400 acres to the unwilling Singur farmers whose land the government had acquired for the Nano project.

... contd.