DMK intensifies negotiations to form ‘third front’

The DMK has begun talks with regional parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), to put together a national front without the Congress, people aware of the development said Friday.

The outreach comes months after the DMK exited the INDIA alliance following Congress’s decision to break with the party and extend support to the TVK, which won the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls in May.

DMK MP and deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi has held discussions with NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, among others, people aware of the development said.

Kanimozhi met Banerjee at her residence in south Kolkata and held closed-door discussions on Thursday, a Trinamool Congress leader, who asked not to be named, said. She also met Thackeray and Sule in Mumbai over the last few days, triggering speculation about the DMK’s efforts to bring like-minded parties under one umbrella after severing ties with Congress.

“What is wrong in that? These are people who were part of the coalition. Meeting them is nothing wrong,” a DMK veteran said when asked about the meetings and their relevance to the INDIA bloc. Asked whether the discussions were aimed at forming a third front, the senior DMK leader said: “The discussion was also in connection with delimitation, and also with regard to the caste enumeration census 2027. That is also an important topic which was discussed”.

The DMK did not attend an INDIA bloc meeting in June. Kanimozhi also wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking separate seating arrangements for her party colleagues following the fallout with Congress.

Her presence at a tea party hosted by Birla on August 13 had triggered speculation in political circles. Tamil Nadu minister for energy resources and law C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar on August 15 alleged that the DMK was pursuing a pact with the BJP.

Meanwhile, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), led by veteran politician Vaiko and an erstwhile partner of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, has joined the TVK-led alliance. On Thursday, MDMK MP Durai Vaiko alleged that the DMK had begun an attempt to weaken the INDIA bloc and Congress and that talks on extending support to the BJP were underway

Speaking to reporters in Tuticorin, he said efforts were being made to bring together regional parties across the country to create an alternative bloc without Congress and weaken the INDIA alliance. He also alleged that in the upcoming constituency delimitation exercise, the DMK would act in support of the BJP.