Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that Congress will have to acknowledge and give respect to regional parties who represent regional aspirations of people.
Speaking to journalists on the results of Karnataka Assembly polls, in which no party got the majority, Ms. Banerjee put her weight behind having a Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) government in the state.
“I came to know from some media reports that the Governor has invited the BJP (to form the government). I think there are precedences of the single largest party not being invited to form government in Manipur and Goa,” Ms Banerjee said .
Ms. Banerjee said that she called up former Prime Minister and JD (S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda and congratulated him for his party’s performance.
“The Congress has not done badly. They have got higher vote percent than the BJP but their seats are less,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee reiterated what she had said on social media earlier in the day, that if the Congress and JD(S) had tied up before the polls the results would have been “very different”.
Emphasising on the crucial role regional parties will play in the coming elections, Ms. Banerjee said that national parties like the Congress cannot ignore and will have to give respect to regional parties.
