The Third Front that he has formed has for the first time succeeded in roping in all dalit-centred organisations in the state This makes him a force to reckon with.

Moopanar would not have imagined this situation even a month ago. He was keen on striking an alliance with the Congress. He, in fact, wanted to a form a Third Front which could provide an alternative option to the people who are fed up with the dravidian parties, viz., AIADMK and DMK. But, despite his best efforts, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi preferred to have a truck with AIADMK forcing TMC to explore other options.

Certain dalit parties such as Pudhiya Tamizhagam offered support on the hope that they would get significant seats to contest the elections as the Third Front was devoid of anybig parties other than TMC. Soon other dalit parties such as Dalit Panthers and others joined the front resulting in consolidation of dalit votes. After some hiccups, Moopanar managed to satisfy all the parties concerned in seat sharing and in a short span of time he was seen as the `saviour of the downtrodden'.

Political observers opine that the Third Front would have a mixed impact in the coming elections. Barring heavy weight like former finance minister P Chidambaram, no other candidate of the front is tipped to have any chance of winning. But it is likely to make life miserable to both the National Democratic Alliance and the AIADMK-Congress front.

In the northern belt, the third front is likely to hurt AIADMK front's chances by eating into its vote bank while NDA would be getting its share of Vanniar caste votes.

In the Southern belt, third front will cut into NDA votes while AIADMK front will get its loyal Thevar caste votes.

It may also get a share of minority support, especially Muslim votesbut some analyst do point out that minorities may plump for the AIADMK front as it has a better chance of winning. Minorities would not like to waste their votes vis-a-vis BJP, they add.

Whatever be the outcome of this poll, the silver lining as far as the third front is concerned is that it has managed to become a force to reckon with and will end up having a committed vote bank which will help it in the future.

Moopanar is already talking of the 2001 state assembly elections. If a section of the state Congress leaders are to be believed, they now regret their decision of not joining the third front, especially after Jayalalitha dumped many hopeless constituencies on them.