West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s political outreach efforts to give shape to a third front that excludes BJP and Congress took a step ahead after she spoke to MK Stalin, the functioning president of Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, in a telephonic conversation yesterday.
Reports suggest that she wished DMK success in next year’s general elections and sought Stalin’s support for a third national political front that will include federal state-level parties to counter BJP’s growing clout and offer an alternative to Congress.
Benerjee has also apparently backed Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in its fight against the Centre for lack of budgetary provisions for the southern state. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief has been using widening differences between TDP and BJP to bring Chandrababu Naidu’s party to her advantage by supporting his MPs in Parliament.
Senior TMC leader Derek O’Brian said Banejree has also reached out to Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, who was the first leader to propound the idea of a third front and was well received by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s support in this regard.
O’Brian claimed that the West Bengal chief minister has also been in constant touch with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who has been publicly expressing displeasure with BJP despite being in alliance with them in Maharashtra and at the Central level.
During a political meeting in West Bengal’s Purulia town yesterday, Banerjee said BJP is planning to eye her state after its victory in Tripura, but other parties must come together to oppose it and set their target on Delhi instead “for the sake of the country”. Banerjee has floated the idea of TMC, TRS, TDP, DMK, SP and BSP coming together for creating a third political front before 2019 elections.