Kanimozhi meets Mamata Banerjee ahead of 2029: Is the regional parties' third front taking shape?

Kolkata: A meeting that lasted around 80 minutes in Kolkata has once again put the spotlight on Opposition realignment. DMK leader and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi met Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Thursday, amid growing speculation over whether regional parties could explore a political formation outside the Congress-led Opposition bloc ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

Kanimozhi arrived at Banerjee's Harish Chatterjee Street residence at around 3.40 pm and left around 5 pm.

Sources said the DMK leader was in Kolkata for personal work and met Banerjee as a courtesy.

Neither the DMK nor the Trinamool Congress has officially characterised the meeting as a political discussion.

Yet, the timing has given the meeting a significance beyond a routine courtesy call.

Kanimozhi's interaction with Banerjee comes after a series of meetings with leaders of other regional parties. She has recently met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and also held separate discussions with NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, according to reports.

The sequence has fuelled speculation about whether regional parties are exploring the contours of a possible alternative political arrangement, with the Congress potentially outside such a grouping.

For now, however, there has been no formal announcement of a third front or any proposal for a new alliance.

The political backdrop in West Bengal adds another layer to the meeting. The TMC and Congress are preparing to contest the October 6 bypolls to Nandigram and Rejinagar separately.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction has named Sanchita Pradhan (Dey) as its Nandigram candidate and Rabiul Alam Chowdhury for Rejinagar, while Congress has also announced candidates for both constituencies.

There has also been disagreement over whether the two parties explored a possible understanding for the bypolls. Reports had suggested that Banerjee reached out to Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal over a possible arrangement. A senior Congress leader subsequently claimed that the TMC had offered to leave Nandigram for the Congress, a claim denied by the TMC.

The Kanimozhi-Banerjee meeting also comes against the backdrop of strains between the DMK and Congress following the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

The two parties had been longstanding allies in Tamil Nadu, but their relationship has since come under pressure after the Congress moved away from its previous arrangement with the DMK and extended support to the TVK-led government, according to reports. The political realignment in Tamil Nadu has added to questions about the DMK's future role in the broader Opposition landscape.

The DMK's reported decision to skip an INDIA bloc meeting in June had already triggered speculation over the party's position within the Opposition grouping.

Against this backdrop, Kanimozhi's outreach to regional leaders, followed by her meeting with Banerjee, is likely to attract close political attention.

However, at present, there is no formal announcement of a new regional front, no confirmed common platform and no indication from either the DMK or TMC that Thursday's meeting was part of an effort to establish one.

For now, the significance lies less in what was announced inside Banerjee's Kolkata residence and more in the political questions the meeting has reopened about Opposition unity, regional autonomy and the shape of alliances before the 2029 Lok Sabha contest.