After many setbacks in TN, Left hopes for a leap forward

Though mostly aligning with the main Dravidian parties, the Left in Tamil Nadu has often sought an independent role for itself. Beyond elections, they have taken up their ideological work at the grassroots level.
At times, they have attempted to float alternatives and have even contested alone. In the 1996 election, the CPM floated a third front with the MDMK that didn't do too well.
The CPI and the CPM, together, have registered a vote share of 3% to 4% ever since they aligned with the AIADMK in 1991. The parties fetched seats from the principal Dravidian parties and got support for a Rajya Sabha seat as well. The 2014 Lok Sabha polls was another exception, however, where after holding several rounds of talks with the AIADMK leadership and with national leaders Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan meeting Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence, an electoral deal could not be sealed.
But 2016 promises to provide more space for smaller parties in the state.After 50 years of Dravidian rule, many of them apparently sense a weakening of the movement. They have boldly stayed away from aligning with the DMK or the AIADMK, strategising that the space for an alternative exists today.
For their part, Left parties have put together an omnibus front to which more parties may join in the future. But critics have found that faced with a declining vote share, Left parties have made more than a few compromises --much like in West Bengal where they have joined hands with the Congress that they fought tooth and nail since Independence. Critics point out that the People's Welfare Front (PWF), had declared that the chief ministerial candidate would be announced after the election. But the com pulsions were such that when Vijayakanth joined them they readily agreed to project him as their chief minister.Fissures have erupted over calling the DMDK-PWF combine 'Captain Vijayakanth Front', with senior Left leaders ike R Nallakannu expressing reservations. Comrades are hopeful though."This is the beginning and will herald a new era in TN that will take its economy and socio-political situation forward," said D Raja, CPI national secretary.
Questions are being raised over the ocus standi of the PWF to make corrup ion charges against the Dravidian parties, with which they had aligned in the past.
"Maybe (they) had a sudden awakening and are making it an election issue now," DMK Rajya Sabha MP, Kanimozhi told TOI.