Chennai, March 31 :    Chennai, March 31:  On the eve of AICC secretary Ramesh Chennithala's arrival for unity talks with Tamil Maanila Congress chief G.K. Vasan, former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram donned a new mantle in Tamil Nadu politics and articulated the core issues to be tackled. The former TMC leader expressed the necessity of the coming together of Congressmen in the state to provide people an alternative to the two main Dravidian parties - the DMK and the ADMK. Chidambaram broke his silence on the role of the Congress Jananayaga Peravai - the outfit he launched after breaking away from the party - and echoed TMC founder late G.K. Moopanar's stand before the Assembly polls last May in asserting that the people had seen 'enough of both (the) DMK and (the) ADMK'. Moopanar saw a role of the TMC in ushering in the 'new political culture in the state', Chidambaram saw a greater part to be played by his CJP. But the Congress remained at the centre of their plans. The 'Congress, as the ship of an Idea', should form the core of anew 'third front', with all the Congressmen coming together in projecting the alternative, Chidambaram had said several times in the past. Significantly, he has not talked of any particular leader who will carry Sonia Gandhi's flag in the state. In an informal chat, he said four or five 'new, credible faces' had to be projected by the Congress in Tamil Nadu to capture the popular fancy and win their 'trust'. Chidambaram's proposal for a Congress-centric 'third front' coincides with the CPI and CPM leadership's ideas. After their state conferences in Dharmapuri and Coimbatore, both the parties harped on the idea. According to sources, Sonia had given the go-ahead to Moopanar before the Assembly polls to form a 'third front' with support from the Left. But Moopanar's ill-health in the run-up to the polls had apparently clinched his eleventh-hour decision to support the ADMK led by Jayalalithaa. 'Otherwise, a third front, would have got us at least 45 Assembly seats, making the position dicey for the ADMK,' the sources said. However, Chidambaram was keen to 'look forward'. Moopanar's death in August had not just ended a crucial chapter of Congress politics in Tamil Nadu but had inadvertently set the stage for a TMC-TNCC merger, a task he left unfinished. However, Moopanar's son Vasan cannot ignore the merger plans after having got elected to the Rajya Sabha with support from Congress MLAs. Chidambaram is aware of the limitations as the DMK and the ADMK have their vote-banks in tact. But he is banking on the 20 per cent vote the Congress has traditionally polled in the state, besides a 'robust swing factor' like film star Rajnikanth, whose charisma could help bring a bulk of the '45 per cent non-voting electorate back to the polling booths'. After a gap of three years, Rajnikanth last week launched a new cinema venture, Baba. If the crowds waiting to catch a glimpse of the superstar at the at AVM Studios here was any indication, he could still be an asset in the third front, felt Chidambaram. But the actor-turned-script writer will have to make up his mind. Chidambaram, who had been rooting for the 'power-sharing idea' before the Assembly elections with either of the Dravidian parties, now seems to have crossed a rubicon saying the Congressmen should 'get more ambitious to become ministers and steer a government'. 'Without ambition, there is no politics, for the former is the seed that impels political action,' he said while admitting that state Congress president E.V.K.S. Elangovan has been doing a 'good job'. One stumbling block to Chidambaram's proposal could be the Lok Sabha elections in 2004, when the Congress high command could do an action replay of the past - tie up with one of the Dravidian parties to take home a chunk of Parliamentary seats and leave the state unit in a limbo. A beginning on the way to the new front has to be made, Chidambaram feels. In fact, he is even shedding his strong pro-right image with the CJP organising a rally at Neyveli to oppose the privatisation of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation.