Mamata Banerjee, the chairperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the chief minister of West Bengal, said on Monday that an alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh could have prevented a split in anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) votes in the upcoming assembly elections.

“It would be good if the Congress and Samajwadi Party had fought unitedly. The votes would not have been split. We requested them but they (Congress) did not listen,” Banerjee made the remarks at the Kolkata airport on Monday afternoon before departing for Lucknow, where she will campaign for the SP during the course of a two-day tour in the run-up to the election.

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“I am campaigning for Akhilesh Yadav. He invited me. I want him to win. He has the organizational setup. I want BJP to lose,” Banerjee also stated that her party will run for some seats in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming general elections.

She further stated that the TMC would run in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Punjab. “I am interested in Punjab. We will contest the Lok Sabha polls there. I have toured the state several times,” she added.

The chief minister further stated that she will travel to Varanasi to worship at a Shiva temple and see the Ganga aarti.

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“It can be the Prime Minister’s constituency. Anybody can go anywhere,” Banerjee responded when it was pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency is Varanasi.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union minister of state for civil aviation, said in Kolkata on Sunday that the state’s unwillingness to offer land has stymied the Centre’s efforts to develop a second airport in the Bengal capital.

Reacting to this, Banerjee said, “From where will I get the land? Will I run bulldozers on thousands of houses? We cannot evict all these people. We gave land for a third runway at the Kolkata airport. I, too, want to procure land. But where is it?”

“I will not let another Singur or Nandigram happen. I don’t kill farmers to grab land,” said the chief minister, referring to the long-running agitation of farmers in two Bengal villages led by her against the former Left Front government’s decision to acquire farmland for industry.

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While the projected Tata compact car factory in Singur, Hooghly district, was subsequently built in Sanand, Gujarat, Nandigram was supposed to be a chemical centre. Both projects had to be shelved by then-chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, but the agitations aided the TMC in ousting the Left Front administration in 2011.

“We provided land for the airports at Andal (in West Burdwan) and Cooch Behar. Why isn’t the Centre making these fully operational? Why is Andal not being turned into an international airport? Is it close to Bihar and Odisha,” said the chief minister.

When Banerjee arrived at the airport, a group of Air India employees were protesting the Centre’s decision to allow the Tata Group to acquire the national carrier.

“The union people met me. The Indian government must ensure that nobody loses their job. We welcome the Tatas. There is no problem if employment is secured. A lot of people were taken on contract. Where will they go?” said Banerjee.