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In a rebuff to Anna Hazare, who ruled out support to Mamata Banerjee in the Lok Sabha poll two days after the anti-graft activist skipped a joint rally in Delhi's Ramlila maidan, the Trinamool Congress today said that it did not need anybody to boost Banerjee's image.
"Mamata Banerjee is a popular leader of the masses and she is known to all in the country. She does not require any person to boost her image," TMC all-India general secretary Mukul Roy told PTI.
He was reacting to suggestions that the TMC supremo's national ambition had suffered a setback with Hazare ruling out support to her in the Lok Sabha election.
Hazare caused a huge embarrassment to Banerjee when on March 12 he did not attend a rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan where he was to deliver a speech along with the West Bengal Chief Minister.
Hazare had earlier declared his support to Banerjee as she agreed to implement his 17-point agenda. He later said he admired Banerjee for her views on society and country, but not her party.
As a spin-off of the Ramlila Maidan fiasco, Banerjee dropped her plan to hold a rally in Ahmedabad on March 20 for the time being and decided instead to concentrate on poll campaign in five Bengal districts from March 18.
Asked whether Banerjee has rescheduled her rally, Roy said, "It is not decided yet".
Roy reiterated that the TMC would play a pivotal role in government formation after the Lok Sabha election, but asserted that "there is no question of any tie-up with the BJP before or after the poll".
