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Chennai: Two major Left parties on Saturday pulled out of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, leaving the Congress - a major supporter of the ruling party - jubilant.
"There will be no alliances with any party that has an alliance with the Congress from now on," said W.R. Varadarajan, Tamil Nadu secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) after a three-hour meeting attended by senior leaders of the CPI-M and Communist Party of India (CPI).
The CPI state secretary D. Pandian said: "The Left will have no alliance with those parties that are directly or indirectly linked to any party or parties on the basis of any understanding with the UPA or NDA in future."
They indicated that the Left would explore the possibility of forming a third front not only at the centre but also in the state.
The decision by the CPI-M and the CPI is in keeping with their withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre. The DMK is a key member of the Congress-led UPA.
The withdrawal of support by the 15 Left party legislators is unlikely to threaten the DMK government of M. Karunanidhi.
In the Tamil Nadu assembly, the DMK has 95 legislators, Congress 35, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi two and there is one independent supporting the treasury benches. In the opposition are the AIADMK with 60 legislators, PMK with 18, MDMK six and DMDK one. The nine CPI-M legislators and the six from the CPI are now going to join them.
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