CALCUTTA, 29 April2 2004 — Trinamul Congress (TC) will walk out of the National Democratic Alliance if Lal Krishna Advani becomes prime minister.
TC’s election manifesto released yesterday says: “On the issue of prime ministership, we support only Vajayee. There is no question of anyone else becoming PM.”
“Vajpayee is the only leader fit to serve as PM in coalition politics. We want him to continue in the interest of national unity and stability”.
Besides snubbing Advani, the manifesto says the NDA government’s privatization policy “amounts to nothing less than genocide” of industrial workers.
The manifesto was released by Pankaj Banerjee, chairman of the party’s policy-making body and a confidante of TC chief Mamata Banerjee whose views on Advani and privatization are well known.
Vajpayee will address an election rally on May 3 in Mamata Banerjee’s Calcutta(South) parliamentary constituency.
Questioned about the TC’s post-poll relations with NDA, Banerjee curtly replied that “depending on the situation, we may have to change our strategy in future”.
Analysts say that the manifesto reveals TC’s growing desperation to retain its seven Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal where elections will be held on May 10.
Many TC stalwarts fear that the party will lose two or more seats this time reducing its bargaining power with the BJP with whom it has a love-hate relationship. The TC is trying to regain the confidence of ordinary people, particularly Muslims, which it has lost because of its political partnership with the BJP and the NDA’s anti-poor economic policies.
