New Delhi, March 27 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday initiated efforts to forge a common front against the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections meeting leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar and BJP's ally Shiv Sena in a bid to ensure one-to-one contest against the ruling alliance throughout the country.
Banerjee, who has had a long innings in the Lok Sabha, visited Parliament house and also met leaders of other parties including Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K. Kavitha and Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
MPs from Biju Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and DMK also met Banerjee. The Trinamool chief said she wanted to meet UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi but was told that she was not well.
She appeared to have no plans to meet Congress President Rahul Gandhi with whom, she said, she was in touch through sms and over phone. Interestingly, Banerjee is meeting BJP rebels Shatrughan Sinha, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie on Wednesday.
Talking to reporters, she pitched for Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party coming together in Uttar Pradesh and favoured the strongest party in each state taking the lead in taking on the BJP. "We want to work together. We do not want anyone should be isolated. Everyone should work together. The party that is strong, it should do it (take the lead). If Mayawatiji and Akhilesh are strong in UP, they should work together. We should help them," she said.
