Saturday, January 28 2006 15:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: In a last ditch attempt to rope in Congress into a anti Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) grand alliance, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee would meet Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee tonight (Jan 28,2006), with both camps keeping their fingers crossed.

The Trinamool Congress supremo was scheduled to call on Mukherjee, also the WBPCC president, after addressing a public meeting at Bankura. Reiterating that TC would not part company with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Banerjee while addressing a public meeting in Purulia yesterday said that she was still hopeful of Congress joining the 'mahajot' against the CPI(M) in the ensuing assembly election in the state.

Banerjee had earlier asked Congress not to make her party's continuation in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as a condition for joining the grand alliance as TC has not raised any question about Congress taking CPI-M's support in running the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre.

The question here was to fight the CPI-M, she had stated.

Mukherjee who had a parley with the TC supremo on December 31 on this issue said after the WBPCC executive committee on January 7, that Congress has no objection in joining hands with TC provide it severed ties with BJP. There should be a secular alternative and Mamata Banerjee could be requested to lead it, he had stated.