NEW DELHI (TIP): In a new partnership, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee might be endorsed by anticorruption crusader Anna Hazare as a likely prime ministerial candidate or leader of a non-Congress, non-BJP front.

Hazare’s move is seen as a response to Trinamool Congress agreeing to support his economic agenda that the Maharashtra-based leader had written about in a letter to the Bengal CM. Hazare had highlighted a 17-point agenda that includes village centric social and economic initiatives and proposals like more vocational education and tough laws against corruption.

In response, Trinamool leader Mukul Roy wrote to Hazare stating that many issues relating to village-based industry, transparency in land acquisition and schemes for minorities had already been taken up by Mamata. But Roy was fulsome in his praise of Hazare’s efforts to clean up public life and sought the ant-corruption crusader’s guidance in combatin g graft in public life.

“We would like to congratulate you on your relentless efforts to bring utmost transparency in public life which our leader Mamata Banerjee had always believed in,” he said. Trinamool’s endorsement of Hazare’s agenda and his guidance is expected to see the Gandhian return the compliment by Mamata as a candidate who fits the bill as India‘s future leader.

A likely endorsement as PM by Hazare will add weight to the chief minister’s credentials as a possible leader of a non- BJP and non-Congress front, putting her on the same pedestal as other claimants to a third front leadership position. Along with regional leaders like AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, BSP‘s Mayawati, the Trinamool boss is seen as a likely gainer in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. She is seen to be better placed in comparison to other regional stalwarts like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Nitish Kumar. “We wish you all success in your current initiative in projecting the ideals to political parties and striving to achieve success in ensuring transparency in public life,” Roy wrote.