From correspondents in Tamil Nadu, India, 11:01 PM IST

After breaking ties with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Left parties are now considering withdrawing support to Tamil Nadu's ruling Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) led by the DMK.

A realignment of the parties seems to be on the cards, pushing the DPA to a precarious edge.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member S. Ramachandra Pillai said categorically that the Left would not 'have any truck' with the DMK, the UPA's crucial ally that stood by it in the July 22 trust vote despite the Communist leaders firm opposition.

'We will not have any truck with the DMK as long as it is the part of the Congress-led UPA,' Pillai told IANS in New Delhi.

The CPI-M-led Left parties last month withdrew their four-year legislative support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government over differences on the contentious India-US civil nuclear deal. Although the Left's withdrawal reduced the government into a minority, it won the trust vote on July 22 in the Lok Sabha.

Several Left leaders said their continuance in the DPA had become meaningless following the DMK's spirited support of the nuclear deal.

Despite senior CPI-M and Communist Party of India (CPI) leaders Prakash Karat and D. Raja, respectively, personally calling on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to seek support for their stance against the nuclear deal, the chief minister had backed the Congress, leaders of the two parties said.

A senior CPI leader said: 'There could be realignment as the ties with the UPA have been broken. The DMK is a part and parcel of the UPA.'

Both the CPI-M and CPI have a combined strength of 15 legislators in the 234-member state assembly. With the Left support, the DPA has 148 members in the house -- including 95 of the DMK and 35 of the Congress.

The PMK, recently ousted from the DPA, sees an opportunity in the drift between the Left and the DPA.

'The DMK is being hoist with its own petard obviously,' remarked a PMK leader.

The PMK has 18 members in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly all of whom had vowed to support Karunanidhi for the entire five years - till 2011.

PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss said in New Delhi earlier this week that the Congress should lead a non Dravidian political front, to which neither Vijay Kant nor Sarath Kumar, both actors turned politicians, are averse.

The combined strength of the PMK, CPI-M, CPI, MDMK, VCK and Vijay Kant's DMDK in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is 42.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)