Congress alone can't have majority in LS polls, federal front is future: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today that the Congress cannot have a majority on its own in the next Lok Sabha polls and the federal front being mooted by her and other regional parties would be "the future".

Banerjee, also the supremo of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, said the future lies with the federal front, a concept she has been pushing for quite some time now.

"Various regional parties will emerge victorious in their respective states. Federal Front of regional parties is the future. If regional parties come together and form a platform, it would be good for the country," she said in an interview to Bengali news channel Zee 24Ghanta.

On Rahul Gandhi's claim that he is ready to become the prime minister if the Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 polls, Banerjee said: "He is free to give his opinion. But the fact is, in the present situation of the country, the Congress can never have a majority of its own."

Banerjee wondered how the Congress would work it out without the support of the Biju Janata Dal, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti and the Telugu Desam Party.

Asked if she would lead the front of regional parties, Banerjee said everybody will work like a "united family" and whatever is good for the country will be done.

Banerjee predicated that the RJD, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the TRS and the TDP would perform well in the Lok Sabha polls.

Earlier this year, Banerjee had said she would try to unite all anti-BJP forces to defeat the saffron party in the general elections. She had met several opposition leaders, including TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao, in an effort to cobble up a formidable front against the BJP.

Asked if it is possible for her to defeat the BJP by keeping the Congress out of a front of opposition parties, she said the Congress and the BJP should not think that only they can form the government at the Centre.

"The Congress has its limitations. It has to work in a united way. Federal Front or regional front is very strong now and it can work for economic stability and development of the country," she told the channel.

Banerjee said the BJP had reached its peak in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls by winning an absolute majority, but it would lose seats in the next Lok Sabha polls.

The Trinamool chief criticised the CPI(M) and the Congress for not raising their voice against attacks on Dalits and the anti-people policies of the central government.

"Just because the campaign for Karnataka polls are on, the Congress has been vocal about attacks on Dalits," she said.

In the interview, she predicted that neither the Congress nor the BJP would get a majority in the Karnataka Assembly polls and the JD(S) would emerge as the kingmaker.

"The Congress should have worked more tactfully with H D Deve Gowda, it would have helped them," she said.

Banerjee lauded the performance of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, chief ministers of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively, but said the saffron party would lose assembly elections in the two states.