Rahul wooing Left upsets TC, Cong mollifies Mamata

Kolkata/New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) Rahul Gandhi's overtures
to the Left parties Wednesday irked Congress' West Bengal ally
Trinamool Congress which opposed any post-poll tie up between
the two estranged partners amid reported threats by its chief
Mamata Banerjee to quit United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in
such a eventuality.

Sensing TC's discomfort over the Congress general
secretary's remarks Tuesday on getting Left support, the
Congress quickly rushed to mollify a hurt TC saying their
alliance was "very precious" and it will not do anything to
"undermine" the ties.

Mamata maintained a stoic silence Wednesday refusing to
comment on her reported remarks that if the Congress took Left
support to form a government, her party could walk out of UPA.
"I am telling you I will not comment," she told PTI when
asked to respond to her reported remarks that " if the
Congress joins hands with the CPM or the Left after the polls,
we cannot continue to be with them (Congress). There is no
question of co-existence for us and the CPI(M)."

But senior Trinamool leader Partho Chatterjee made
it clear in Kolkata his party was opposed to any alliance at
the Centre which includes the Communist Party of India-Marxist
and that Rahul's attempt to reach out to Left was untimely.

"This is a very untimely comment made by the Congress
leader when we are fighting the battle jointly against the
CPI(M) in the last lap of elections in West Bengal," he said.

In New Delhi, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily
said, "we have a very precious alliance with Mamata
Banerjee's party and it is permanent. We will not take even a
single step forward to subvert the agreement with Trinamool
Congress".

"We will not at any cost undermine this agreement
(Congress-TC alliance). This trust will continue between us,"
Moily said.

In Kolkata, Mamata refused to respond to attempts by
Rahul to woo the Left.

"I won't make any comment on what Rahul Gandhi has
said," was the firebrand leader's reply when asked to respond
to his remarks that the Congress looked forward to working
with the Left parties in the post-poll scenario, while
expressing confidence that the communists would accept
Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister in a Congress-led government.

Trinamool's Partho Chatterjee said, "the assessment by
the Congress leader(Rahul) about the Left will jeopardise the
strength of the Congress-Trinamool alliance in the state."

Another TC leader Dinesh Trivedi said there is no need
for the Congress to take Left support.

"But as far as we are concerned we will never ever be
going to go anywhere near(the Left) because they are
undemocratic. They are anti-national as well," Trivedi said.

"We will be doing a disservice to the nation if we
associate with the CPI-M who do not believe in democracy,"
he added.