BJP, AIADMK seal alliance for 2026 Tamil Nadu elections

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will fight the 2026 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu together under the leadership of former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday.

The announcement renews an alliance that broke off in 2023 amid acrimony. It was announced on a day the BJP state unit was almost certain to get a new chief, who will replace K Annamalai who was blamed by the AIADMK as the biggest reason behind the break-up two years ago.

“The leaders of AIADMK and BJP have decided to fight the next assembly polls along with allies under the NDA banner. This election will be fought at the national level under Narendra Modi’s leadership and AIADMK chief Edappadi Palaniswami at state level,” Shah told a press conference in Chennai.

ALSO READ | PM Modi hails BJP alliance with AIADMK for 2026 TN assembly poll: ‘NDA will uproot corrupt and divisive DMK’

“In a way, from 1998, the AIADMK has been part of the NDA and for a long time, PM Modi ji and the great (late CM) Jayalalithaa ji had worked in national politics together. At one point of time, this alliance had won 30 out of the 39 seats in the general elections,” Shah said.

“I am confident that the NDA will get a massive majority and form an NDA government in Tamil Nadu.”

Despite the AIADMK’s bitter separation from the BJP in September, 2023, the two parties put up a united front. Shah said that AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami will be the chief ministerial candidate for 2026.

Following the announcement, Shah had dinner at the residence of EPS, who described it as a “momentous announcement”. “This alliance stands united in its unwavering commitment to liberate Tamil Nadu from the regressive evil governance of the DMK, rectify the historic missteps that have hindered the state’s progress, and lay the foundation for a new era of inclusive growth, development, and opportunity,” EPS said in a statement. “Together, we move forward with a shared vision and steadfast resolve to build a brighter, stronger, and more dynamic.”

ALSO READ | Who is Nainar Nagendran, set to become Tamil Nadu BJP president?

The incumbent Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has won every election in Tamil Nadu since 2019 and the NDA hopes to maximise its chances by roping in the big Dravidian rival, which last won a state poll in 2016.

The AIADMK, which has ruled Tamil Nadu for 30 out of the last 47 years, has lost every election since J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016. Elections in the state are due in the summer of 2026.

The alliance made the 2026 contest four cornered – between the DMK-led INDIA bloc, the AIADMK-led NDA, Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), and political debutant actor Vijay’s Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK).

Shah said the AIADMK did not make any demands and assured that he will not interfere in the southern party’s internal affairs, speaking about expelled leaders O Panneerselvam and TTV Dhinakaran. While Dhinakaran’s breakaway faction Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) joined the NDA for the 2024 polls, OPS unsuccessfully contested as an independent candidate with the BJP’s backing.

Shah was flanked by Annamalai and Palaniswami on stage. They were accompanied by Annamalai’s possible successor and BJP’s floor leader, Nainar Nagendran, and Palaniswami’s close aides KP Munusamy and SP Velumani.

The BJP national general secretary, Vinod Tawde, said the alliance will usher in a new political equation in Tamil Nadu. “I am confident that the NDA will form a people-centric, corruption-free government under the visionary leadership of PM Narendra Modi ji, ending the DMK’s misrule once and for all,” he said on X.

Senior party leaders aware of the developments said the process of renewing the alliance began after the 2024 elections but picked up pace in January “After the AIADMK’s performance in the Lok Sabha and the BJP also not meeting its target. a section of party leaders as well as Sangh functionaries suggested renewing the alliance,” said a senior functionary aware of the details. The AIADMK and the BJP both drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Given the acrimony between outgoing state chief K Annamalai and the AIADMK, the functionary quoted above said the new state president Nagendran will have the task of “balancing the BJP’s aspirations with maintaining the coalition dharma.”

“ The BJP has a stated position of showing respect to its allies and we will continue to do so. In 2014 and 2019, when the party did not need allies to be in power, we stuck to the coalition dharma and accommodated allies in the union cabinet,” the functionary said.

On whether the BJP will let the AIADMK take the lead in deciding critical issues such as seat-sharing, the functionary said for now the focus would be on firming the alliance and strengthening ties between the cadre of both sides on the ground.

“The home minister has explicitly said that the BJP will contest the 2026 assembly elections under the leadership of AIADMK…all other details will be taken up by the leadership of both parties at an appropriate time,” the leader said.

The alliance also has the sanction of the BJP’s ideological fount, the RSS. According to people aware of the details, the Sangh had expressed concern over development in the state over issues such as the three-language formula and the narrative being set about delimitation.

“Senior functionaries of Sangh had conveyed to the party the need to counter the narrative that Hindi was being imposed in the southern states and that the delimitation, which cannot be undertaken without a decadal survey, will reduce the representation of these states in Parliament,” said a Sangh functionary.

The organisation, which has limited presence on the ground in the state, is also planning an outreach to counter the fears about language and other issues.

On Friday, Shah held a 1.5 hour-long meeting in the residence of RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy. Parallely, Nagendran was in the BJP headquarters, filing his nomination for party presidency. His candidature was supported by Annamalai and other senior state leaders. Following the meeting with Gurumurthy, Shah posted on X that Nagendran was the only person to have filed a nomination and that Annamalai had commendable accomplishments. “Whether it is carrying the policies of PM Shri @narendramodi Ji to people or the programs of the party from village to village, Annamalai Ji’s contribution has been unprecedented,” Shah said on X. “The BJP will leverage Annamalai Ji’s organisational skills in the party’s national framework.”

Jayalalithaa was in alliance with the BJP, led by AB Vajpayee for the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, and was key to the coalition and her withdrawal of support in 1999 led to the fall of the BJP coalition govenrment at the Centre. Jayalalithaa pitched the 2014 general elections as a battle between “Gujarath’s Modi and Tamil Nadu’s lady”, going contrary to murmurs that she might support Modi as PM. She went on to sweep the state winning 37 out of 39 seats with BJP winning one seat in Tamil Nadu. However, the following year, Modi as PM had lunch with Jayalalithaa in her Chennai residence with her as CM seeking his intervention on several issues.

The two parties joined hands ahead of the 2019 elections and fought the 2021 assembly polls together, but lost both. Annamalai was appointed as the BJP state chief in July 2021. AIADMK passed a resolution in 2023 against Annamalai for repeatedly provoking it by insulting late supremo J Jayalalithaa and Dravidian icons.