Saturday, January 7 2006 19:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: As the talk of a 'grand alliance' against the ruling Left Front in West Bengal gained ground ahead of the Assembly polls, AICC General Secretary Margaret Alva today (Jan 7, 2006) said she would talk to everyone, including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in this regard.

"I will talk to everyone. Mamata is no stranger to me," Alva who has now also been given charge of West Bengal, told reporters here.

She said that her mission in the state was to strengthen the party in Bengal and restore it to its past glory.

Replying to a question, she dismissed a suggestion that West Bengal was a 'gone case' for Congress saying the same thing was being talked about when she took charge of Maharashtra, where the party returned to power.

Alva's statement came on a day when the WBPCC Executive Committee was to hold parleys in the backdrop of PCC Chief Pranab Mukherjee's talks with Mamata on December 31 on the issue.

Veteran Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury is among the prominent party leaders who have favoured a 'grand anti-CPI(M) alliance'.

Alva said that she would be having talks with West Bengal Congress leaders at the AICC Plenary Session in Hyderabad later this month and would visit the poll-bound state thereafter.

She disagreed with a questioner that the outside support of Left parties to the Congress-led coalition at the Centre created hurdles for the party in West Bengal to take on the Marxists. "Central politics is on a different level altogether," she added.