DHAKA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has initiated talks with her Tamil Nadu counterpart J Jayalalithaa, suggesting that the two should come together to form an ‘opposition block’ in Parliament.

Trinamool Congress leaders in Kolkata say their party chief’s objective is ‘to protect the interests of the states’ in a Lok Sabha that will have no leader of opposition.

The Congress, the second largest party in Lok Sabha, failed to secure the 10% House strength needed to get the opposition party status.

‘Minus Bihar and UP, we have to speak to regional parties such as Jayalalithaa,’ Mamata had said on Friday evening, when it became clear the NDA had gained a clear majority.

‘What we are doing is a logical follow up of what our leader said. We are trying to create an arrangement where the interests of states will be protected, as BJP has got a mandate where no other parties are required. But at the same time we do understand Modi will keep politics aside and cooperate with the states on the question of development,’ a senior Trinamool Lok Sabha member said, reports Hindustan Times.

‘It is a sort of a pressure group that we are driving at,’ the Trinamool MP explained.

Both Mamata and Jayalalithaa have been able to stop the Modi wave at their borders, at least that is what the number of seats bagged by their parties suggest.

BDST: 2114 HRS, MAY 19, 2014