DMK Pushes Ahead with Talks to Build a New ‘Third Front’

In a surprising turn of events, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has quietly begun reaching out to a handful of regional players – the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – with the expressed aim of stitching together a new, Congress‑free national front.

The overture comes just a few months after the DMK walked out of the INDIA alliance, a move that was triggered when the Congress decided to break ranks and lend support to the TVK, which swept the Tamil Nadu assembly polls in May.

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the DMK’s MP and deputy general secretary, has been at the centre of the diplomatic sprint. Sources say she met NCP stalwart Supriya Sule in Mumbai, sat down with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee at Banerjee’s South Kolkata residence, and held a closed‑door conversation with Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray, also in Mumbai.

One Trinamool leader, who asked to remain unnamed, confirmed the Banerjee meeting, adding that it was “just a friendly chat, nothing overly formal”. Still, the timing – a Thursday evening discussion that followed a string of other high‑level meet‑ups – has fuelled speculation that the DMK is trying to rally like‑minded parties under a single umbrella after parting ways with the Congress.

When pressed about the purpose of these gatherings, a veteran DMK figure shrugged and said, “What’s wrong with talking to former coalition partners? It’s perfectly normal.” He did, however, note that the talks also touched on the upcoming delimitation exercise and the much‑debated caste‑enumeration census slated for 2027 – topics that are “very important for our future political strategy”.

The DMK’s disengagement from the INDIA bloc became evident when it missed the June meeting of the alliance. In a related move, Kanimozhi wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla requesting separate seating arrangements for her party colleagues, a step that raised eyebrows after she attended a tea‑party hosted by Birla on August 13.

Adding another layer of intrigue, Tamil Nadu’s energy minister C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar hinted on August 15 that the DMK might be entertaining a pact with the BJP, a claim the DMK has not publicly confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), once a junior partner in the Secular Progressive Alliance, has now aligned itself with the TVK‑led coalition. MDMK MP Durai Vaiko went on record in Tuticorin, alleging that the DMK is actively trying to weaken the INDIA alliance and that talks about supporting the BJP are already in motion. He further suggested that the DMK could back the BJP during the forthcoming delimitation process.

Whether these negotiations will crystallise into a formal “third front” remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the political map of India is being redrawn, with regional leaders testing new configurations and the old grand alliances showing signs of strain.