West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ruled out any alliance with left in Bengal and asserted that she would resign if anyone could prove that Saradha scam has anything to do with her.
In a wide-ranging interview with Headlines Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai, she favoured the idea of secular front, including the left, at national level to stop BJP in its track but maintained that the left was finished in West Bengal.
Asked about the accusation of aiding corruption in the Saradha scam against her, Banerjee denied that it had anything to do with the TMC rule and asserted that she would quit if proved otherwise. “It was never done in our time. It was the left Front’s time and Congress’s time …,” the CM claimed saying “You have to prove it otherwise I will resign from my side.”
“We arrested the man. We set up the judicial commission. We returned the money to five lakh individuals. This is absolutely wrong to blame us,” she said.When asked about her painting being sold for 1.8 crore, Mamata threw the mike during the interview, according to the Headlines Today.Banerjee spoke out on the possibility of a national platform against the BJP which could include the left.“This is like a common minimum programme. We can come together against communal forces to protect secularism.” She, however, made it clear that this alliance could be at the national level, not in Bengal.
“left is finished in Bengal. Their ideology is different. We are different.” She, however, added, “Nitish and lalu came together in Bihar and we saw the results; if they stay together, the BJP will lose the polls. If Mayawatiji and Mulayam Singh come together in UP, BJP will lose. In Maharashtra, you have seen secular forces were not together because of Sharad Pawar, and they lost,” She said.