Stalin calls Pawar to express solidarity, plans campaign against BJP

Chennai, July 3 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday called up NCP leader Sharad Pawar and expressed solidarity with him following the split in his party led by his nephew Ajit Pawar.

A group of NCP legislators led by Ajit Pawar had aligned with the BJP and he became the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

A senior leader of the DMK told IANS that the party will be conducting a campaign across the state against the attempts by the BJP government at the Centre to break the opposition political parties.

The senior leader said that the BJP was trying to engineer defections in parties and was butchering democracy.

The DMK, according to sources , will conduct campaign in the state against this. This is considered as a political move by the DMK to activate party cadres in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP's Tamil Nadu unit chief K. Annamalai had come out strongly against DMK leadership and the arrest of Minister Senthil Balaji by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has put the DMK in a corner.

The party will be highlighting the action of Governor R.N. Ravi in unilaterally dismissing Balaji from the council of ministers but later revoking the decision. This has been taken up by the DMK as a major opportunity against the BJP.

The defection in NCP in Maharashtra is another issue that is being taken up by the DMK in its campaign in Tamil Nadu.

With these two major issues , the DMK is expecting to come out to regain the initiative after the arrest of Balaji and the possibilities of further arrests.