“We don’t think there is any chance for the third or the fourth front in the state assembly election next year. Any party could contest but the main contest would be between AIADMK-BJP alliance and DMK led alliance comprising of the secular opposition parties,” he told reporters after hoisting the party flag marking 103rd anniversary of the November revolution.

 On the BJP’s vel yatra, he said that the BJP’s campaign was not about the faith but to fulfill its political agenda to create communal tension in Tamil Nadu. “CPM was the first party to seek a ban on the yatra but the chief minister announced the government’s decision to ban only when the case came up for hearing in the court. The ban should have been imposed much earlier,” he said, adding that the government had denied permission to hold a meeting inside a hall citing COVID-19.

 Pointing to the ban on bursting cracker for the Deepavali festival, he said that the ban on crackers would affect five lakh workers in Sivakasi. “We had urged the chief minister to contact his counterparts in the state which had banned the firecracker considering the impact it would create workers and traders in the state. We want the state government to take steps to protect the workers,” he said.