Mamata mulls snapping ties with NDA

Has Trinamool Congress finally made up its mind to snap ties with BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)?
Well, it has been in the air for some months now and maverick party supremo Mamata Banerjeee indicated in Kolkata on Thursday that she is preparing to part ways with BJP. And she chose to do this at a meeting with a group of madrasa students.
“We are now with no one and are trying to stand on our own”, Mamata said adding her party was carrying on the agitation against West Bengal's Left Front government's bid to acquire farmland for setting up industries. “In West Bengal, we are going it alone. It is a conscious decision and we are going to stick to it in the coming days”, she added.
Political analysts say Mamata's remarks are an attempt to woo Muslim votes, who comprise 27 percent of West Bengal's electorate, ahead of speculation in political circles about fresh parliamentary elections much earlier than schedule in 2009.
Ties between Mamata's party and BJP in West Bengal have remained all but snapped for some years now, especially after Trinamool Congress rebuffed any seat adjustment with BJP in the last state assembly elections in the state. However, at the national level, Mamata has not made any formal announcement about her party's exit from NDA.
In the past too, Mamata had given the impression of distancing her party from NDA by staying away from alliance meetings for months together before Trinamool Congress representatives returning to such exercises.
Recently, Trinamool Congress did not vote in presidential elections in which BJP had put up its senior leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Mamata's party had rooted for a second term to APJ Abdul Kalam as President.
Mamata, however, sought to emphasise that her “political compulsions” in West Bengal or at the national level or her personal respect for BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee has got nothing to do with her relations with Muslims.
The Congress party in West Bengal was quick to welcome Mamata's remarks at the meeting with madrasa students.
West Bengal Congress legislature party leader Manas Bhuniya said his party would like Mamata to return to the Congress fold, which she had quit in 1997.
At this moment, Mamata's return or formal alliance with Congress is unlikely ahead of next general elections.
So far, Mamata has not aligned with Congress despite several overtures by Congress and the fact senior leaders of that party like Pranab Mukherjee and Priyaranjan Dasmunshi are believed to be in touch with her. Mamata has also not made any formal announcement to leave NDA despite repeated pleas by Congress.