Express News Service
CHENNAI: After the initial euphoria over the proposition of a new alternative to the BJP and Congress, DMK working president M K Stalin seems to be backtracking following rumblings in the opposition camp in Tamil Nadu. He appeared to be striking a concordant note following the much-talked-about meeting with Telangana Rashtra Samithi founder and Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao and endorsing the views of All India Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
However, it had sent wrong signals to the opposition combine, which has been waging a spirited fight for retrieving the State’s rights over the Cauvery waters. Riling over the change of mood, the disappointed Congress began to take counter-moves quickly. VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan was given a sudden audience by party president Rahul Gandhi. Thirumavalavan later asserted that his party would be in an alliance consisting of the Congress.
The Left parties — CPM and CPI — in the State too dismissed the idea of floating the third front to take on the BJP and Congress. They felt only a united front was the need of the hour to take on the BJP.
Concerned over the discordant note, Stalin was stated to have decided to put the idea on the back burner. That he stayed away from attending the much-trumpeted launch of Rythu Bandhu Scheme to provide investment support to farmers to the tune of Rs 8,000 per acre per year in Telangana indicated his mood.
KCR had invited him to the event, saying that Stalin would play a major role in shaping up the third front.
The invitation was considered as a springboard for Stalin to stray away from Tamil Nadu in a bid to evolve as a national leader, but the idea did not take off.
Informed sources said Stalin had shown reluctance to entertain Mamata too. She was said to have expressed her willingness to meet him, following the visit of KCR.“Mamata was to visit a few days after KCR’s huddle. But Stalin was not fully willing to receive her at this juncture,” a source said.The Congress is also said to have been mulling an alternative for a poll alliance in case the DMK dumps it at the eleventh hour. Its state chief S Thirunavukkarasar was believed to have mooted the idea of joining hands with T T V Dhinakaran.
However, a DMK spokesperson maintained that his party’s working president would always think in terms of cementing a strong secular alliance that included the Congress as well.“We are firm on a secular alliance. The Congress is always part of our scheme of things,” he told Express.
“Our stand is to unite all opposition parties in Tamil Nadu to put up a strong front,” the spokesperson added.
