Mamata reaches out to MK Stalin and KCR, snubs Congress: 'It can go its own way'

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee reached out to regional satraps M K Stalin and K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday to push for an anti-BJP alliance.

On Monday, the West Bengal Chief Minister sought to edge the Congress out of any such prospective formation, saying no regional outfit shares cordial relations with it and that the "Congress can go its own way".

Amid signs of increasing bonhomie between her and her Telangana and Tamil Nadu counterparts Rao and Stalin, Banerjee had approached the two on Sunday to set up meetings of opposition chief ministers.

Asserting that the country's federal structure "has been bulldozed" and the country's Constitution is being "demolished", Mamata called for unity amongst the opposition CMs "to come together to protect it".

"Together we are trying to protect the federal structure. All regional parties must come to an understanding," she said, referring to her telephone calls to Rao and Stalin.

Banerjee, who has intensified her efforts to form a coalition of opposition parties after she fell out with the Congress over cobbling together an alliance in Goa, claimed no regional outfit is on friendly terms with the main opposition party.

"The Congress can go its way, we will go ours," she asserted.

Interestingly, Congress is an alliance partner of the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

After a call from Banerjee, Rao said on Sunday he will soon meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the TMC supremo as part of the efforts to unite various political parties against the BJP.