In unerring succession over the last five decades, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have alternately ruled Tamil Nadu, where no national party has been in power since the Congress lost in 1967. Dislodging the party in power has been the overarching objective of other parties, and the thought of providing an alternative to the two mainstays of Tamil Nadu is only a minor theme in any election. >The coming together of Vijayakant and the four-party People’s Welfare Front (PWF) , which includes two regional parties and the two Left parties, to forge a third front is therefore a significant development. As the party with the third largest vote share in the State, Mr. Vijayakant’s decade-old Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) may not have really lived up to its early promise, but in tandem with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) of Vaiko and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a Dalit party, it seems to be in a position to mount a semblance of a challenge to the two formidable leaders — M. Karunanidhi of the DMK and Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK. Mr. Vijayakant, who will be projected as the new front’s chief ministerial candidate, >was the most sought-after political ally in the run-up to the Assembly election, with the DMK, the PWF and the BJP courting his company. The DMK went out of its way to win him over, but Mr. Vijayakant’s political instincts seem to have taught him that he should lead a front rather than join one.
Mr. Vijayakant, who floated his party in 2005, began as a lone ranger and garnered an impressive 8.5 per cent vote share in the 2006 Assembly polls, followed by an improved figure of 10.3 per cent in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Frustrated that his vote share was not translating into seats, he tried the alliance route in 2011, joining hands successfully with the AIADMK,
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