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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Is DMK gearing up to support Mamata Banerjee’s third front?
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Is DMK gearing up to support Mamata Banerjee’s third front?

DMK's working president M.K. Stalin says that he will endorse the efforts of Mamata Banerjee to bring together the political parties

Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday had said that the forces opposed to the BJP should come together in the 2019 general elections. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/MintPremium
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday had said that the forces opposed to the BJP should come together in the 2019 general elections. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Chennai: More than a month after the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to Tamil Nadu’s principle opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the party’s working president M.K. Stalin on Wednesday said that he would endorse the efforts of Banerjee to bring together the political parties.

Stalin who is also the opposition leader said in a tweet: “DMK has always stood for the unity of regional parties and stronger federal co-operation. I endorse the efforts of Mamata Banerjee to bring together various political parties to oppose the autocratic and anti-democratic rule of the BJP."

Banerjee replied: “Thank you. We extend our full support."

While DMK insists that it is a “clear warning directed at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)" ahead of the parliamentary polls slated for next year and won’t disturb the party’s alliance with the Congress, observers said that it is also a signal to Rahul Gandhi’s party.

“We cannot ignore stating that it has nothing to do with the Congress. It is a pre-emptive measure from the DMK," said a senior Congress leader.

Pointing out Banerjee’s television interview on Tuesday, DMK spokesperson Manuraj Shanmugasundaram said, “DMK endorses any endeavours to forge together a pan-India, non-BJP grouping."

Banerjee on Tuesday had said that the forces opposed to the BJP should come together in the 2019 general elections and regardless of party colour, should take on the BJP in a bipolar contest.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee slams Congress for moving CJI impeachment motion

She also added that the Congress was welcome to join the alliance that she was trying to build with regional parties. But for such an alliance to work, the Congress has to be more accommodative and “willing to let go", the West Bengal chief minister had said.

In March, Banerjee had called up Stalin to invite the DMK into the proposed third front and the Tamil Nadu’s opposition party has remained non-committal to the idea.

A week after Banerjee’s telephone conversation with Stalin, he had skipped Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s dinner meeting with the opposition party leaders and deputed Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi to attend the meet.

While there are rumours about the fissures in the DMK- Congress alliance, DMK decided not to sign the impeachment motion against chief justice of India Dipak Misra, moved by the Congress, last week.

Also, during the DMK’s two-day conference in Erode last month, Stalin had said that his party would win the “next election in Tamil Nadu, without the support of any other party".

However, N. Sathiya Moorthy, director of New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation’s Chennai chapter said that Stalin’s tweet on Wednesday was just an attempt to strengthen the party’s seat sharing with Congress, in the upcoming election.

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Published: 26 Apr 2018, 09:34 AM IST
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