The political battle between federal Transport Minister Tony Valeri and MP Sheila Copps showed no signs of abating Thursday, after the former heritage minister hinted she might leave the ruling party to join the ranks of the NDP.

Accusing the Liberals of trying to push her out of the party, Copps says she's engaged in the political fight of her life -- to win the party nomination in the riding of Hamilton-East Stoney Creek.

Having lost in her bid to challenge Martin for the leadership of the federal Liberals, Copps says she now feels hung out to dry.

"It's painful to be in the position where the party you love has turned its back on you," she told reporters.

Under electoral boundary redistribution rules the longtime Hamilton MP's riding has been redrawn. In the process, half of her old riding has been merged with that of Tony Valeri, a Paul Martin loyalist.

Valeri is also seeking the nomination, even though he lives just outside the new riding's boundaries. He's next door, in what will become Niagara West-Glanbrook.

"Where you live should not be dictating where you actually run," the transport minister said, explaining his belief that his home address is irrelevant.

But for Copps -- whose family home is still in the riding -- it could be a crucial point on which the prime minister could intervene.

"He can fix it by saying to his Minister run in the riding where you live."

But Valeri told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa that his designs on the riding have nothing to do with any sort of vendetta.

"She's not being pushed out by me," he said, calling the fight for the nomination an "exercise in democracy."

Five ridings are being reduced to four due to population shifts in the Hamilton area, he said. With five incumbent Liberal MPs, that means a nomination fight somewhere.

"I don't get up in the morning and relish the thought I'm in a nomination race," he said, adding that when the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario held its hearings, he argued unsuccessfully to maintain Stoney Creek as a separate riding.

For her part, Copps -- who suggested on Wednesday that she is toying with the idea of a move to the federal NDP if she loses the nomination -- is persistent in her conviction bad blood is clinging to her history as a strong supporter of former prime minister Jean Chretien.

Last month, she accused members of Martin's inner circle of pressuring her to leave politics for a patronage appointment. The charge was denied.

Copps also said her request that Martin call off Valeri was refused.

And on Thursday, Copps said the Martin-dominated party apparatus is making it difficult for her to access membership forms.

But Valeri, who says he's had the same access to membership forms as his rival, told reporters he's not buying any of Copps' arguments.

"Let me be very clear here," he said in Ottawa. "There's no issue of entitlement. I'm not entitled to run in that riding and neither is anybody else."