Akhilesh meet Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, fanning specultaion about the two regional leaders forging a credible third front nationally. The meeting comes on a day when Samajwadi Party (SP), led by Akhilesh's father Mulayam Singh Yadav, intensified a surprise attack against the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre. Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress (TMC) party is part of the UPA, has often locked horns with the Congress on a range of issues and ties between the allies have remained tense since the beginning of this year. The meeting between the Akhilesh Yadav, star of the party’s landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh polls this year, and Banerjee, who also scored a similar near-unilateral victory in her state last year, came on a day when the SP raised doubts on Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's ability to run the country