Stalin To Reach Out To Non-BJP CMs For National Front Against Saffron Party

Earlier this week, Stalin had hinted at a possible convention of opposition CMs after a telephonic conversation with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Stalin To Reach Out To Non-BJP CMs For National Front Against Saffron Party (File Image)

New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is set to coordinate with the chief ministers and leaders of opposition ruled states to form a national platform against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Speaking to news agency IANS, senior DMK leader and state Water Works Minister S Duraimurugan, said, “Our chief minister is an icon of Dravidian struggle and he has excellent rapport with almost all the national leaders. He has already commenced speaking to these leaders for a national platform against the BJP and after the urban local body polls are over on February 19, the momentum of this coordination will increase and a national platform against the BJP will soon emerge.”

Earlier this week, Stalin had hinted at a possible convention of opposition CMs after a telephonic conversation with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo called her Tamil Nadu counterpart to voice her concern over the ‘brazen misuse of power by the Governors of non-BJP ruled states’, Stalin had said. 

Notably, the Tamil Nadu chief minister has already floated the All-India Federation of Social Justice in which he has invited his political rival and AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam.

According to sources close to the CM, Stalin has already telephoned all the senior opposition leaders, including the Chief Ministers of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra.

The sources further said that Stalin has spoken to senior leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti among others. However, the list of opposition leaders does not include Aravind Kejriwal for the time being.

Political expert and former professor of political science at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, Subramanian Ramaswamy, as quoted by IANS, said, “Stalin is the apt choice for such coordination as he has good rapport with the Congress, CPM, CPI, and other political parties. With regard to Mamata Banerjee, both the Congress and the CPM are skeptical about her. But being a seasoned politician, Banerjee knows well that if she allows Stalin to take the centre stage, things would happen, and for the larger interest, she seems to have decided to play the second fiddle.”

Meanwhile, former General Secretary of CPI-M, Prakash Karat said in a statement that the broader alliance of the opposition political parties will take place only with the presence of the Congress and excluding the grand-old party would not be a good move.

With Stalin taking the centre stage, he is reminding one of his late father M Karunanidhi and his journey to Delhi as a kingmaker in both the NDA and UPA rule at the Centre.