TMC will maintain equal distance from Congress, BJP

KOLKATA: With union minister Jairam Ramesh ruling out an alliance with the Trinamool Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee today said that his party would maintain equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP.

"We will keep a 1000 km distance from both the Congress and the BJP. We have contested elections alone and our position is well established in election results. We will contest alone which the people want," Mukherjee, the panchayat minister, told reporters here.

He claimed that Ramesh's remarks ruling out alliance with the TMC was not in tune with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's contention.

"Perhaps he has said that without knowing or he has a quarrel with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has said that in politics all doors remain open, while he (Ramesh) is saying something else," Mukherjee said.