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Now, Mamata Banerjee is back with Federal Front

Didi is said to be in touch with Jagan too.

Hyderabad: Trinamul president Mamata Banerjee has been playing a balancing act between the Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu. In an interview on Friday, Ms Banerjee said that the next government at the Centre would be non-NDA and non-UPA. “The Prime Minister will be chosen collectively by the leaders of the Federal Front,” she said.

She said that the results in West Bengal and UP would play a critical role in forming the government at the Centre. “Whether it is Telan-gana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar or Assam, we will choose our leader together and our decision will be based on the common minimum programme.”

Ms Banarjee said that she was in touch with Mr Rao, Mr Naidu, Mr Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, and Mr Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD among others, and added that they were all together.

However, Mr Naidu is not a part of Mr Rao’s Federal Front.

In the presence of Mr Rao, Ms Banerjee speaks in favour of the Federal Front while in the presence of Mr Naidu she favours the anti-BJP coalition.

Mr Rao has met Ms Banerjee twice to discuss the Federal Front, and she supported his proposal to form the Federal Front comprising non-BJP and non-Congress parties.

After breaking away from the BJP, Mr Naidu met Ms Banerjee and others and worked towards forming a mahagathbandan with Congress and other parties against the BJP. Ms Banerjee supported his proposal and said that without a national party (Congress), it would not be possible to form a front against the BJP.

When asked about the mahagathbandan during the interview, Ms Banerjee replied, “The situation keeps changing.”

Unconfirmed sources said Ms Banarjee was in touch with the YSRC president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and that she had spoken with him a few days ago, after the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections took place in AP on April 11.

Prior to the announcement the elections, Ms Banerjee had good relations with the Congress. The poll-related developments, with the Bengal Congress fighting again-st Trinamul, and the bitter words between the two parties, appear to have turned Ms Banerjee towards the Federal Front for now.

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