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BSP supremo Mayawati and Trinamool Congress today dashed any hopes of a post-poll alignment with the BJP-led NDA, an option about which Narendra Modi had talked in an interview.
"BJP leader Narendra Modi in his recent interview had claimed that if needed he might seek support of AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, TMC's Mamata Banerjee and BSP national president...
"I want to make it clear that BSP will not extend any kind of support to Modi or NDA to form the government at any cost," Mayawati told reporters here.
Rejecting the possibility of a tie up with BJP, Trinamool Congress also said "if he says BJP's doors are open for a Modi-led government, then I will use the same analogy to say that our doors are shut and the keys have been thrown away".
Both were reacting to Modi's comments in a television interview last night hinting at keeping the doors open for doing business with leaders like Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati, notwithstanding strong attacks on them during the campaign.
However, there was no reaction from Chennai either from the Tamil Nadu chief minister or her party AIADMK.
In his interview, Modi said "Whatever I wanted to explain, I have. This can also be a tactic to keep the door open....I won't explain it now but will do so after May 12."
Mayawati told reporters today that Modi's statement betrayed nervous on his part as the BJP has realised that it might not be able to form the government.
"When elections started, Modi was claiming that NDA will not require support of any other party. No party talks about taking support of any other party unless it is unsure of its victory...The interview of Modi is a ploy to create confusion in the minds of minority community which are voting for us," she said.
Trinamool spokesman Derek O'Brien said in Kolkata, "if the doors are open, then our doors are shut and the keys have been thrown away."
He said the BJP's claim of 272 was a "hallucination" and suggested the party may get 180 to 190 seats.
"The Congress can fit into a railway compartment with 72 seasts. The results are going to be very very different. One thing is that Trinamool Congress will be third largest party in Lok Sabha," he said.
O'Brien said leaders like Jayalalitha, Naveen Patnaik and Banerjee and "many like us will be the engine. It is time to wait to wait till May 16."
On Wednesday, Banerjee had ruled out supporting BJP or Modi in forming the government.
"The BJP will not get more than 160 seats and will not be able to form the government in Delhi. There is no question of backing you (the BJP) even if you beg," she told a public meeting on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Mamata Banerjee today continued her attack on Modi saying she would have sent Narendra Modi to jail had she been in Delhi.
The Congress, she claimed, was 'cocooned in fear' and did not have the guts to act against the BJP.
"They (Congress) have no guts. It is a party cocooned in fear. They survive through understanding and play got-up matches and indulge in match-fixing. Not a single word against Narendra Modi. It (Congress) is in head over heels in love with Narendra Modi," Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief, told an election rally here in Murshidabad district.
"Had I been in Delhi in place of Congress, I would have sent Narendra Modi to jail by tying a rope around his waist," she said hitting out again at the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate for his remark that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants would be sent packing after May 16.
Picking on what Modi said, his party leader Amit Shah said it does not believe in "political untouchability" and is open to support from any party.
"All parties are welcome to join the NDA if they want to give their support for development of this country," he told reporters in Varanasi when asked to comment on Mayawati dismissing the possibility of backing BJP or Modi in government formation.
