SP, RJD abandon Left, Congress in Bengal, extend support to Mamata

Kolkata, Mar 02: The Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party on Monday distanced themselves from traditional allies Left Front and Congress and threw their weight behind Mamata Banerjee ahead of the West Bengal elections.

The RJD and SP are the biggest challengers to the BJP in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Bengal there is a considerable population from both the states.

RJD leader, Tejashwi Yadav said that this is a battle of values. Laluji has decided that we should fully support Mamataji. Mamata Didi's fight is our fight, he said. He however did not respond to a question, whether the RJD would abandon its alliance with the Left Front.

Congress and LF are our allies in Bihar. But in Kerala too the UDF and LDF are rivals. These are region specific things. This is a larger battle for values, he said.

Akhilesh Yadav on the other hand spoke to Mamata over phone and extended. His party's support to the Trinamool Congress.