Didi planning alliance sans Congress: Sanjay

Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was contemplating an alliance excluding the Congress. Raut in his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’ in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana also claimed Banerjee having said her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) will not test political waters Maharashtra.

Notably, the TMC leadership on Saturday said it would continue to cobble up an alternative front as the Congress “failed to lead the fight” against the BJP.

Banerjee during her recent Mumbai visit had made a cryptic statement that “there is no UPA now”.

On Friday, TMC mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ had launched a fresh attack on the Congress, saying it has gone into a “deep freezer”.

Recently, ‘Jago Bangla’ had also claimed that Mamata Banerjee, and not Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Raut, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra, on Sunday claimed “it looks like Banerjee is contemplating something new excluding the Congress”. He also claimed that during her meeting with Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray here a few days back, she told the latter that “we will not come here as the Shiv Sena and the NCP are strong”. -(PTI)