Three more parties join TMC front

CHENNAI, AUG 4: The TMC-led front widened its electoral support base today with the inclusion of the Bahujan Samaj Party BSP, Republica...

CHENNAI, AUG 4: The TMC-led front widened its electoral support base today with the inclusion of the Bahujan Samaj Party BSP, Republican Party of India RPI and Dalit Panthers, that aim at representing the interests of Dalits in the State.

President of the State BSP T Devanathan, general secretary of the RPI C K Tamizharasan and president of the Dalit Panthers R Thirumavalavan called on TMC president G K Moopanar at Satyamurthy Bhavan this morning and arrived at an agreement to work together in the Lok Sabha polls as partners of the TMC-led front.

While the BSP, headed by Kanshi Ram, has significant strength in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the Dalit Panthers is said to have considerable presence in the northern parts of Tamil Nadu.

Addressing the media, Moopanar said the TMC would keep its promises to the Dalit segments in the society and voice their demands through the legislative fora. Asked whether there is any possibility of the MDMK, which has not yet reached an agreement with the DMK over seat-sharing, joining the TMC-led front, his cryptically replied,8220;Vaiko and I are good friends.8221;

Thirumavalavan charged that the DMK and AIADMK had made it a point to deny the Dalits their due share of power in the administrative and political structures. The Dalit organisations and parties came into the fold of the TMC front because the TMC sought to bestow political status and recognition on Dalits, he said.

The ambition of the oppressed sections was to get integrated into the socio-political mainstream and efforts were on to politically mobilise all these sections under one umbrella organisation like the TMC, he said.

The three Dalit parties have asked the TMC to include the demand to rent out Government properties and allot patta lands to SCs on priority basis in its manifesto. The panchami lands lost by the Dalits should be restored to them for cultivation. Yet another demand was that a percentage of vacancies in the private sector be reserved for the Dalits.

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Meanwhile, M G Dawood Miyakhan, grand son of Quaid-e-Milleth who led the Indian Union Muslim League, called on Moopanar today and expressed his support to the TMC-led front in the Lok Sabha elections.