IANS/Kolkata

Trinamul Congress Party activists attend a rally in the eastern city of Kolkata yesterday
Railway Minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee yesterday appealed to the Congress to forge a “grand alliance” with her party to dislodge the ruling Left Front in the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.
“We want a grand alliance of common people. Here we have SUCI (Socialist Unity Centre of India) leaders with us at this programme. We want them to forge an alliance with us for the assembly polls as they had done in the last 2009 Lok Sabha polls,” Banerjee said while addressing a public rally here.
The Trinamul and the Congress, along with the SUCI, had joined hands before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and decimated the Left Front that has been ruling the state since 1977. The alliance bagged 26 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.
“We are in favour of an alliance. We want a grand alliance of people. I am inviting the Congress to forge an alliance with us. I am appealing to the Congress to form the alliance. We want an alliance of Trinamul, Congress and SUCI in the coming polls,” Banerjee said.
Last year, the Trinamul-Congress alliance broke down after the parties failed to reach an agreement on seat sharing in civic elections.
The state Congress leadership had then accused the Trinamul of denying them the respect due to an alliance partner.