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March 30, 1998

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ELECTIONS '96

Mamta invites BJP to join 'save Bengal front'

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Trinamul Congress leader and member of Parliament Mamta Banerjee has invited the Bharatiya Janata Party to join in the 'Bangla Bachao Front' to defeat the ruling Left Front in West Bengal.

The BJP, which had a seat adjustment with the newly formed party, welcomed the move in view of the three-tier panchayat polls scheduled for May and thereafter the next assembly polls expected not earlier than 2001, in the state.

This was the first time when Banerjee openly proposed the BJP for such an alliance, giving a clear indication that the present relationship between the two parties was going to stay. The BJP's state general secretary Rahul Sinha thanked Banerjee for the proposal, adding, "We too are keen to join the front to fight against both the CPI-M and Congress."

The Trinamul leader, before returning to New Delhi from Calcutta, said on Sunday evening that her party would contest all the seats -- nearly 58,000 -- in the three-tier panchayat bodies elections along with the BJP.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal unit of the Indian Union Muslim League today announced its decision to join the 'Bangla Bachao Front' formed by Banerjee in December.

Announcing its decision, general secretary of the party's West Bengal state committee, M Nuruzzaman, said the IUML took this decision at Sunday's working committee meeting in Calcutta and conveyed it to Trinamul Congress chairman Pankaj Banerjee, MLA. He said they would meet Mamta Banerjee when she returned to Calcutta later this week from the national capital.

UNI

Elections '98

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