New Delhi/ Kolkata, May 13 (DHNS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s reported remarks on mid-term Lok Sabha polls were forcefully rebutted by Congress on Saturday even as the Trinamool Congress slam the report as  “half-truth.”

“I have not gone through the statement by Banerjee but one thing is clear: UPA-II will complete its term and elections will be held on schedule  (in 2014),” said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi.

Alvi further asserted that “There is no question of any mid-term poll. The Manmohan Singh-led government will complete its full term. I can specifically say the (next Lok Sabha) election will be held as per schedule.”

Alvi was reacting to remarks of key UPA ally TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s reported comments in Kolkata on Friday, where she was quoted as saying that she “got an information that a meeting was held in Delhi” wherein “they want to hold the Lok Sabha polls by 2013.”

“Any day, we can face the election. So, we must be ready to face it. And we must not do anything that the people misunderstand me,” Trinamool chief had said.

After the Congress ruled out any possibility of early polls, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien clarified the party’s stand on Twitter by quoting Banerjee as saying: “Let me clear the half-truths being reported... I would be happy to see UPA-II last its full term.”

“What she said was that she had heard this (advancing Lok Sabha poll) issue being discussed in Delhi. Now our statement clarified the position,” O’Brien said.

When Deccan Herald contacted O’Brien, he said: “Whatever we had to say we have said. I don’t want to speak on this issue further”.

Meanwhile, reacting to the developments, BJP said it would be happy with early elections, while CPM’s Sitaram Yechury accused the Trinamool of “threatening” the government.
“She has hinted at 2013...we would want this government to go in 2012 itself because it is not in favour of this country for this government to stay even for a minute longer,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Husain said.