West Bengal chief-minister Mamata Banerjee has stated that her objective was to ensure that a strong federal (coalition) Government is put in place at the Centre.

It may be recalled that Mamata, who is also the president of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, was among the first to raise her voice of support after Telengana chief-minister Chandrasekara Rao (president of Telengana Rashtriya Samiti) mooted some time back the proposal to form an all-India non-BJP, non-Congress front as an alternative to the tried and tested national parties’ tenures at the Centre.

Mamata also discussed (over phone) with DMK’s working president M.K. Stalin the feasibility of stitching together a strong Front to challenge the BJP and the Congress at the national level.  Rao visited Kolkata yesterday for a one-to-one meeting with his West Bengal counterpart. After the meeting, the two chief-ministers addressed the press jointly.

“We are seeking to stitch together a strong alternative to the BJP and the Congress by forming the third front.  We shall also be meeting leaders of various parties in this regard in order to bring about a change in the country,” Rao opined.

“We want to change the style of politics followed in the country for 71 years since the country’s independence from the British. The federal structure can be strong only if the States had strong Governments in place. The need of the hour is to bring a strong federal Govt. to rule the country.  We have commenced work in this regard just now,” Mamata Banerjee said.