Kolkata: In a bid to establish its presence at the national level, the Trinamool Congress on Sunday said it will contest on its own over 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh, apart from fighting assembly elections in Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand.
All India Triamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy told that his party would contest on its own in 45 out of 60 seats in Manipur, all 40 seats in Goa in alliance with regional parties and in some constituencies in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly.
"We will contest more than 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. Our objective is to establish our party's presence at the national level, particularly the Hindi heartland projecting our leader Mamata Banerjee's image of integrity and honesty," he said in an interview.
He dispelled suggestions that the Trinamool Congress was going to test political waters in Uttar Pradesh to cut into votes of the Congress with which the party's relation had soured recently over FDI in retail and Lokayukta provision of the Lokpal and on other counts.
"It is not correct to say so. There is no such thinking in our party while deciding to contest in the forthcoming UP Assembly polls in so many seats," he said in response to a question.
Roy said that the Trinamool Congress would contest 11 seats out of 55 seats in the first of the seven-phase phase polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 8.
"The Trinamool Congress will go it alone and will not enter into a poll tie-up with any party in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand," the Union minister of state for shipping said.
Roy said the Trinamool state unit president in Goa and former chief minister Wilfred D' Souza has been assigned the responsibility of tying up with local parties.
"It is our feeling that the Trinamool Congress will do well in Manipur and Goa and also be able to establish its presence in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand," he said.
He said the eight MLAs belonging to parties like the Congress, the CPI and the Manipur People's Party, six former ministers and two former deputy speakers would be among the 45 candidates Trinamool Congress would put up for the 10th state Assembly polls slated for January 28.
Despite being a new party in Manipur, Trinamool Congress grabbed its maiden seat in the state Assembly after its candidate K Sharat Singh defeated the ruling Congress in the by-election to the Konthoujam constituency in February, last year.
"People from different parts of the country are contacting us and want to see the presence of Trinamool Congress in their states. The party, which has dethroned the Left Front from power after its uninterrupted 34 years of rule in West Bengal, has already established its presence in the legislative assemblies of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh also."
Roy said Trinamool Congress is a party for 'Ma, Mati and Manush' and its opposition to various UPA government policies like FDA in retail, petrol price hike and Lokayukta provision of the Lokpal Bill had been appreciated in 'many quarters'.
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