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Mamata says CPI-M will kill her

Union Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee plans to retire from politics in 15 years, but she said she was convinced that the Communist Party of India-Marxists will attempt to "kill" her before that.

In an interview to Vir Sanghvi, for the Star Talk programme to be telecast on Sunday, the Trinamul Congress leader said, "Everyday their [CPI-M] attempt is to kill me."

"Do you think the CPI-M will allow me to live even for 15 years? I don't think so," she said.

Describing the CPI-M leaders as "arrogant," Banerjee said they want that she should be finished. She had even heard that CPI-M leaders felt that if she was killed, there would be a Bengal bandh for four or five days and after that they would survive, the Trinamul Congress leader said, according to the Star News channel.

Recalling that the first attempt on her life was made when she was only 15, Banerjee said they had attacked her so often that she had nearly died but asserted that she was not afraid of them.

On electoral alliances, Banerjee said she was not "a political astrologer" and everything would depend on the situation and circumstances as they unfolded.

On whether she would ditch the Bharatiya Janata Party, she said, "We don't ditch people unless and until they ditch us."

On why her party had joined the National Democratic Alliance government and decided to support it as long as Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister, she said, "This is because of Atalji's stature and he was, he is a sensible man and everybody respects him."

On whether her party would support L K Advani as prime minister after Vajpayee, she quipped, "I am not going to answer a hypothetical question."

PTI

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