By IANS,
Mumbai : A day after Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari called for expanding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the party Friday lavished praise on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
In what may be seen as an effort to woo back old ally Trinamool Congress, the NDA’s working chairman L.K. Advani, in his valedictory speech to the BJP national executive meet, lauded Banerjee for leading her party to victory in West Bengal.
Advani appreciated how the party brought an end to the 35-year rule of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front in the state.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed Banerjee was feeling “suffocated” in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
“She was our alliance partner, we respected her a lot. She is now feeling suffocated inside the UPA,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress was a constituent of the NDA, but withdrew in 2007, and joined the UPA before the 2009 general elections.
The relations between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress are at present going through a rough patch, with the latter even blaming Banerjee’s party for stopping key economic reform measures.
Advani also lauded Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav for making his party emerge as the largest in Uttar Pradesh. The SP is being wooed by the Congress which is afraid the Trinamool Congress may withdraw support to the central government.