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TMC sounds out 'federal' parties in unity push

New Delhi: Amid a fresh unity bid by the Opposition to take on the BJP, the Trinamool Congress on Monday said its chief Mamata Banerjee had reached out to DMK working president MK Stalin for coordination in and outside Parliament.
Banerjee has taken the lead in defeating the BJP by talking to 'federal' parties. "We are on track", TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien said.
After calling up TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, Banerjee held a telephonic conversation with Stalin, O'Brien said, adding there was "good coordination" between TRS, TDP, SP, BSP, TMC and DMK in Parliament on various issues on Monday.
O' Brien said that during her nearly 12-minute conversation, Banerjee told Stalin that a good show by the TMC and the DMK in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively would mean a block of almost 75 MPs in Parliament.
His remarks came in the backdrop of Banerjee again pitching for regional parties to come together to take on the BJP after the results of assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Responding to a question, O'Brien rejected the suggestion that the Congress has been "excluded" from the grouping Mamata Banerjee is working on. He said the West Bengal chief minister also spoke with Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray and is in touch with Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. Though it is part of the governments in Maharashtra and at the Centre, Sena has been critical of the BJP and its leadership.
In fact, citing the Rule 176 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha on Monday, TMC Parliamentary deputy leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy demanded a discussion on PNB scam, all opposition parties including Congress supported his move.
Likewise, during a Lok Sabha Business Advisory Committee meeting, TMC whip Kalyan Banerjee requested the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for a discussion on the same subject preceding all other business.
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