The war of words between Trinamool Congress and Congress on Wednesday intensified with Mamata Banerjee saying her party was not in the United Progressive Alliance at anyone's "mercy".
Banerjee's hard-hitting remarks came a day after senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said Trinamool Congress was trying to marginalise his party in West Bengal.
"We are not in the UPA government because of anyone's mercy, we are there on our own strength with the blessings of 'Ma-Mati-Manush (mother, land and people)'. If any political party thinks we have reached Delhi with their help, it is wrong," Banerjee, whose party has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha, told an election meeting for the May 30 civic polls in Kolkata.
She said her party has in the past too failed to ally with Congress, which won six of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The number of seats won by Congress and TC proved which party the people sided with most, she said.
Claiming that she was not aspiring for the chief minister's post, Banerjee said, "I am not fighting for personal gain. The chief minister's post has been tarnished."
Without naming Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party, she said, "These forces unlike the TC did not remain in movements at Nandigram and Singur, but surfaced like migratory birds during election time only to divide votes and help Communist Party of India-Marxist."
Describing CPI-M as an "opportunistic party", she said, "It sometime begs L K Advani and sometimes the Congress."
"There is no democracy in West Bengal and terrorising of common people is on...common people would resist if the CPI-M tried to win by looting votes," the TC chief warned.
Without naming the TC chief, Mukherjee had said at an election rally on Tuesday that it would be wrong to believe that Congress would be reduced to a signboard organisation in West Bengal.
Noting that it would be wrong to say TC got so many seats in Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on its own strength, Mukherjee, who is also the state PCC chief, had remarked, "Congress also contributed immensely and the two parties won 25 seats."
