Presidential elections: SP, TMC make common cause

Kolkata: Samajwadi Party General Secretary Kiranmoy Nanda today said he had a ‘positive discussion’ with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee two days after he met her to discuss the strategy of the two parties on the upcoming Presidential elections. “We discussed issues relating to the national political situation and the discussion was positive,” Nanda said when asked if SP, which along with Trinamool Congress commands a sizable number of votes, was trying to evolve a common stand on the Presidential election. [caption id=“attachment_281589” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Samajwadi Party General Secretary Kiranmoy Nanda today said he had a ‘positive discussion’ with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on the presidential elections issue. PTI”]  [/caption] “I briefed Mulayam_ji_ about the discussion held with Mamata Banerjee,” Nanda, who had met the Trinamool supremo here on Tuesday as an emissary of Mulayam Singh Yadav, told PTI from Lucknow. He, however, declined to give details of his talks. Nanda was also evasive when asked if Banerjee had agreed to his request to go to Delhi and hold talks with regional parties along with Mulayam Singh Yadav. After a 30-minute meeting with Banerjee on Tuesday, the Samajwadi Party general secretary had said in reply to questions that “what will be our role, we will discuss and decide later.” He said his party was fully in agreement with the Trinamool Congress on several issues, including the stand on the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre. PTI