TMC will need some more time to reach outside WB: Mamata

The Trinamool Congress would take some more time to extend its reach outside West Bengal, party chief Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday while claiming it would emerge as the third largest party after the Lok Sabha polls.

"These things can't be done in such a short time," Banerjee replied when asked what response she was receiving for her plans to extend TMC's reach outside West Bengal. "But now that we have started working on this, within a month I will cover other parts of the country."

Stating that the TMC lacked funds, Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister, said, "We have to travel by flights and do not have helicopters. We are facing a lot of hardships (in campaigning)”.

Speaking about addressing an election meeting at Shantinagar in Tripura's South district on Tuesday, she said, "We thought of hiring a helicopter since we have to travel for two and a half hours by road to reach the venue from the airport (in Agartala), but we cancelled it after we were asked to pay Rs 76 lakh."      

Stating that the TMC would go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls from West Bengal with the support of 'Ma, Maati, Manush', Banerjee said, "And we (TMC) will emerge as the third largest party in the country after the elections."

Asked about the possibility of the Communist Party of India-Marxist joining hands with the Congress, Banerjee said, "We have been saying that the CPI-M, Congress and the BJP are working together. We are not saying this without basis.

"They have never done any development nor they will do so in future. Trinamool Congress is the only alternative for West Bengal," she claimed.

She had recently claimed that if the party got six months time, it would become the 'number one party in India'.