Kolkata, December 14
The Centre is not considering any proposal for advancing the Lok Sabha poll, the external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said today. He was addressing a public meeting at Behrampore, the district from where he won the 2004 parliamentary elections.

The union minister admitted that some talks were going on in political circles regarding the possibility of elections being held ahead of schedule. “But we are not considering any such proposal,” said Mukherjee, adding that the announcement regarding the poll would be made soon.

Meanwhile, the CPM and other left parties have already started their poll-preparations.

The Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked her party cadres to gear up for the elections. “I want all the anti-CPM parties to unite together this time,” said Mamata, hinting at talks with the AICC leadership.

The Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh is also reportedly trying to bring Mamata close to WBPCC. Singh met Mamata twice during his visit to Kolkata in November. Before meeting her, the SP leader also met Sonia Gandhi and apparently sought her consent to rope in the TMC chief in a fight against the BJP and left parties.

Also, when the Prime minister Manmohan Singh was in the city on November 6, to attend the Visva Bharati convocation, both Mamata and Soemn Mitra had met him separately and there were some informal talks on the political situation of the state vis-à-vis the functioning of the left government. A WBPCC delegation led by Pradip Bhattacharyya and Dr Manash Bhia also met the PM and apprised him of party’s preparations. It is believed that the delegation also told the PM that if all the anti-left parties were united, it would be very easy to dislodge the CPM, as the party’s popularity had eroded to a large extent. During their meeting, the external affairs minister was also present.

The CPM secretary Biman Bose said the left parties would once again contest the Lok Sabha and the assembly elections jointly. Though there have been some misunderstanding and differences among the left parties on some issues, these would be resolved soon, he added.