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First cracks in the opposition INDIA bloc appeared on Friday with the DMK announcing the end of its alliance with the Congress and even urging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to seat its lawmakers away from those of the Congress in the Lower House.

In a parallel development, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met DMK supremo MK Stalin in Chennai and posted his pictures on X saying “We are not the ones who abandon each other in times of difficulty.” The post features Yadav’s pictures with Stalin and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.

Earlier today, in a big churn in opposition politics, DMK’s K Kanimozhi wrote a letter to Birla requesting for a change of seating arrangement and conveying that they would no longer be able to sit with the Congress MPs.

“In view of the changed political circumstances and as our alliance with the Indian National Congress has come to an end, it may not be appropriate for our members to continue occupying the present seating arrangement alongside them. I, therefore, request your good office to kindly make the necessary arrangements for separate seating for the MPs of the DMK Parliamentary Party, enabling them to effectively discharge their responsibilities in the august House,” Kanimozhi, sister of Stalin, wrote to Birla today, signalling initial fissures in the INDIA bloc.

The DMK has already expressed its extreme displeasure at the Congress betraying its pre-poll alliance to offer support to Joseph Vijay of the TVK for government formation in the state.

The BJP today was quick to take a swipe at the opposition and said INDIA bloc was on its road to demise.

BJP general secretary organisation BL Santosh said the DMK’s letter to the Speaker was the “start of the end of INDIA bloc”.

BJP’s Nishikant Dubey said, “INDIA bloc is history. The Congress has always believed in use and throw. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress ate the goods of corruption, gave jail to its allies, especially to woman MP Kanimozhi and to A Raja who represented the SC segment. Congratulations to the DMK for bringing out the true face of Congress at the right time.”

In Tamil Nadu elections, the DMK and AIADMK finished behind Vijay’s TVK in the election results declared on May 4.

This was the first time in the state since the rise of the DMK in 1957 that none of the two Dravidian parties were in a government forming role and a third force emerged.