New Delhi:
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, told NDTV today that she is willing to join a coalition that includes her arch rival, the Left, if the Congress takes the initiative to form the group.
Ms Banerjee, who in 2011 ended the Left's 34-year-long run in Bengal, made it clear that an understanding with the Left would not extend to her home state. "I am ready to be part of a national platform which includes the Left to fight communalism. This is not the same as an alliance in West Bengal, we will fight alone there," the 59-year-old leader said.
Ms Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress, has been unnerved by recent gains made in Bengal by the BJP.
She was present yesterday in Delhi at a conference to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister and Congressman Jawaharlal Nehru. The event was organised by the Congress, and the ruling BJP was not invited.
Ms Banerjee said she had not found an opportunity to discuss her proposal with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. "I feel Congress should take the lead. If you don't take the lead, sometimes, other forces fill that space," she said to NDTV.
Till 2012, Ms Banerjee was part of the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre; she exited over economic reforms that she described as "anti-people." Describing her equation with the Gandhis, who lead the Congress, she said, "I have a good relation with Sonia." Of Mrs Gandhi's son, who is No 2 in the party, she said, "I don't know Rahul... he is a 'new one'."
This year, the BJP won two of the state's 42 parliamentary seats, allowing it a foothold in a state which votes in two years for its next government. The BJP also won a recent assembly by-election. It has launched a state-wide recruitment drive, which is reportedly drawing a strong response from workers disenchanted by the Left and Ms Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress.