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Aiyar meets Sonia, sparks speculation on Trinamool-Congress ties

Trinamool Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's meeting with Sonia Gandhi at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday has triggered speculation that the party might tie up with the Congress.

Aiyar, however, has denied the rumours. He described his meeting as a courtesy call and said he had come to congratulate Sonia for launching a successful campaign.

He also ruled out any possibility of his returning to the Congress and clarified that Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress would fight the election as a separate entity.

Asked whether the Trinamool Congress would support the Congress, Aiyar said, ''I cannot say what will happen after the election.''

Describing Sonia as a 'vote catcher', the Trinamool Congress leader said her election campaign had already arrested the decline of the Congress.

With Sonia at the forefront of the election campaign, Aiyar said the Congress would now get more than 140 seats in the election. "Had she not campaigned for the Congress, it would have got less than one hundred seats in the election," he remarked.

The former MP denied that he was trying to work out a pact between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress.

He, however, said the Trinamool Congress was very much a part of the Congress family, but not of the Indian National Congress. Aiyar said both he and Mamata Banerjee were deeply associated with the Gandhi family and have high regard for Sonia.

UNI

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