M A I N   N E W S

Ties with Congress intact: Mamata

Kolkata, February 20
Ending uncertainty over her party’s alliance with the Congress ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls, Trinamool Congress supremo and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today said the tie-up would remain and asked people to dislodge the Left Front government after 35 years of ‘misrule’.

“There is no question mark over my party’s alliance with the Congress and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI),” she said at a party rally to protest alleged CPI-M atrocities in places like Nandigram and Netai.

Banerjee, whose party is a partner in the Congress-led UPA at the Centre, appealed to Left-minded people who are unhappy with the state of affairs in the state, to join hands in her fight against the Left Front.

“My fight is against the Left rule and not against Left-minded people. Those who want to voice their protest against the Left Front misrule of 35 years, their atrocities on people and want real development of the state are welcome to join hands to fight together,” she said.

Banerjee urged the electorate to throw out the CPI(M)-led Left Front saying, “In Egypt people have brought in change after 30 years. I urge the people of my state to get rid of the Left democratically after its 35 years of misrule."

Seeking to retain the minority votebank, which has veered towards it since the 2008 Panchayat polls and is being desperately wooed by the Left ever since, Banerjee said, "If we come to power, we will implement the Sachar Committee report on minority development in the state." — PTI