The PMK is likely to decide on leading an alternative front for the 2016 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu at the meeting of its executive and general council scheduled for November 20 and 21.
PMK founder S. Ramadoss has been reiterating his resolve to create a front, excluding the DMK and the AIADMK.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the PMK was part of the BJP-led alliance. “Since it was the Lok Sabha elections, we agreed to be one of the partners of the BJP. But, we will lead the front in the Assembly elections,” PMK sources said, indicating that the BJP could also join the front. The BJP, riding on the Narendra Modi wave, hopes to find a space for itself in Tamil Nadu. It wants to take advantage of the ruling AIADMK’s predicament after the disqualification of the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and the DMK’s failure to turn the situation in its favour. But it is not clear whether it will play the second fiddle to the PMK. The PMK’s decision may come as a shock to the DMK, which is seeking to build a formidable alliance against the AIADMK, roping in both the PMK and the MDMK. The presence of DMK president M. Karunanidhi and treasurer M.K. Stalin and MDMK general secretary Vaiko at the wedding reception of PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss’s daughter have raised the hope of the DMK.
Though Dr. Ramadoss is firm, the PMK is yet identify parties that can help it alter the political course of the State, where there are so many players, including the two Left parties and Vijayakant’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). But the Lok Sabha elections proved that both the PMK and the DMDK were antagonistic.
Moreover, most of these parties, from the BJP to the Congress to the one to be launched by the former Union Minister, G.K. Vasan, seek to project themselves as an alternative to the Dravidian parties. Will they stick to their guns or give up their posturing in the last minute in exchange of seat-sharing remains to be seen.
