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All eyes on PMK chief's family wedding

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Press Trust of India Chennai
Against the background of talks about a possibility of political realignment in Tamil Nadu, the wedding of PMK leader and former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss's daughter Samyuktha tomorrow and reception, is being watched keenly as rival leaders are set to meet in the event.

PMK founder leader Ramadoss and his son Anbumani have invited a galaxy of political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, DMK president Karunanidhi, his son and party treasurer M K Stalin and MDMK chief Vaiko for the wedding.

Although for the record, the PMK, and DMDK are with the NDA in Tamil Nadu, they do not see eye to eye on a host of issues.
 

Both Ramadoss and Vaiko have strongly criticised the BJP regime at the Centre on several issues starting with an invite to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksha to the swearing in ceremony of Modi in May and alleged "imposition" of Hindi.

To top it all, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's request to the Centre to confer "Bharat Ratna" on Rajapaksa heightened the dissatisfaction against the BJP.

Also, the PMK has been going soft on the DMK which is reciprocated by the Karunanidhi-led party. Recently, Stalin praised Ramadoss as the "first" person to urge that he be made the Deputy Chief Minister when the DMK was in power.

The bonhomie between the DMK and PMK became evident after an invite to Karunanidhi and Stalin for the wedding of Samyuktha by Ramadoss's family.

As regards MDMK, its chief Vaiko in a party meeting recently praised the previous DMK regime, and Stalin reciprocated the spirit when he said, "he admired Vaiko's tireless work for Tamils." The DMK leader also dropped hints about the possibility of a grand alliance ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections.

Rival political leaders meeting each other, exchanging pleasantries or shaking hands is not common in Tamil Nadu and it makes the likely meeting in the wedding significant. It may prove to be a springboard for a political realignment in Tamil Nadu.

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First Published: Oct 29 2014 | 8:40 PM IST

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