According to party workers, at various smaller meetings with district party functionaries, local leaders have raised concerns about how they can explain to voters why the two parties revived the alliance and reassuring them of the party’s commitment to state-specific issues. However, the party has yet to formulate a plan on how it will address these concerns. It has decided to hold the party’s executive committee meeting in Chennai on 2 May to firm up a strategy
A former AIADMK minister from the western region of Tamil Nadu, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint that it’s easier to hold such discussions at state-level meetings but the real problem is to answer questions posed by the public on the ground.
“Whether it is NEET or delimitation or Hindi imposition, while meeting the public in a small event or during a door-to-door campaign in the village, the mass mentality does not allow them to listen to our long explanation,” the former minister told ThePrint. “Even now, there are murmurs of dissatisfaction over joining hands with BJP on the ground.”
However, senior AIADMK leaders insist that the ruling DMK was making a fuss over non-issues. AIADMK IT wing president and national spokesperson Kovai Sathyan told ThePrint that they have always stood with the people of Tamil Nadu when it comes to the state-specific issues, and would reach out to the people on the ground about it.
“NEP 2020 came when AIADMK was in power. We clearly wrote to BJP-led Union government that the state would continue to follow the two-language formula. Similarly, NEET issue is before Supreme Court, and we do not lie like DMK does by saying they would abolish NEET with a single signature. When it comes to delimitation, we also participated in the all-party meeting and stressed for a fair delimitation,” Kovai Sathyan said.
The all-party meeting, chaired by CM M.K. Stalin, was held in early March. At the meeting, Sathyan added, it was former AIADMK minister D. Jayakumar who proposed a change in the resolution that stressed the need for a proportionate increase in the number of constituencies. Jayakumar suggested modifying the resolution to say Tamil Nadu’s existing percentage of seats, 7.18 percent, should not be reduced as a result of delimitation.
The two parties announced a revival of the alliance Friday at a press conference in Chennai, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, or EPS. BJP and AIADMK have a long history of working together.
Most recently, in September 2023, ties went for a toss, just months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Back then, AIADMK severed its ties with BJP after party leaders took offence to remarks made by then state BJP chief Annamalai about former CM Annadurai.
Also Read: No coalition govt, alliance only for 2026 polls—EPS contradicts Amit Shah on AIADMK-BJP tie-up
Discomfort and challenges
At a booth committee meeting Monday, just days after the alliance was finalised, former AIADMK MLA S. Gunasekaran raised concerns over the alliance with BJP.
“In past elections, when we allied with BJP, many of our Muslim brothers refused to work for us on the ground. We saw the results of those elections. DMK basically invokes communal sentiments and harvests its votes,” he said in Tirupur in western Tamil Nadu, according to a purported video clip from the meeting circulating on social media.
Speaking to ThePrint, Gunasekaran said the decision to ally with BJP was taken by the party leadership after a lot of struggles.
“But, I thought I should express the difficulties in explaining our stand on a lot of things at the ground. Although it is going to be tough on the ground, I will strive hard to bring the anti-DMK votes under one umbrella and remove DMK from power,” Gunasekaran said.
A senior AIADMK leader from Coimbatore, who was also part of the meeting, told ThePrint that Gunasekaran was just voicing the mood on the ground. “It is not just limited to his locality in Tirupur, but the mood of the party workers on the whole. But we will work for the victory of our AIADMK candidates, irrespective of our alliance partners,” they said.
‘Difficult to utilise anti-incumbency’
Despite the difference of opinions, political analysts in Tamil Nadu ThePrint spoke to believe that there appear to be no signs of a rebellion within the party. However, they said, it will be difficult for the party to fully capitalise on the anti-incumbency on the ground.
“In AIADMK, all throughout history, none of the rebellions, right from Janaki to O. Panneerselvam, have survived in the party. So, party workers always take the line of the leader who has the majority’s support,” said V.M. Sunilkumar, an assistant professor at Hindustan University. “In this case, there would not be any internal feud, and they would explain it to the people.”
A. Ramasamy, former professor and head of the Tamil department at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, said getting the message to the ground would not be difficult for the AIADMK since it has more grassroots-level workers than any other party. “They do not mind their stature. Let them be the former minister or any leader, they are more grounded. Since the alliance has been confirmed a year before the election, they have enough time to explain their stand,” Ramasamy said.
But with no plan at hand for now, AIADMK sources said a rethink is underway on issues that are likely to lead to a conflict with BJP. The new strategy, they said, is to highlight the cracks within the ruling DMK alliance.
“Just like our alliance, there are also conflicting views within the DMK-led alliance. For example, they have problems with the Congress-led Karnataka government on Mekedatu Dam issue and the CPM-led Kerala government on Mullaperiyar Dam issue. We would question those lines and would put forth our views in a similar manner,” said one source.
This was evident in the remarks made by EPS Wednesday. Speaking to reporters in Chennai, he asked why DMK did not have state rights and state autonomy in the common minimum programme devised by partners of the INDIA bloc. “If DMK is really concerned about state autonomy, it should have kept it in their electoral promises during the Lok Sabha and not raked it up during the state assembly election. When in power or not, AIADMK has always stood with the state issue and DMK, despite sharing power at the Centre for several years, did nothing for state autonomy,” EPS told the reporters.
On Tuesday, Stalin announced the formation of a high-level committee to protect the state’s rights and improve the relationship between the Union and the state governments.
Further explaining the party’s strategy, a source from the AIADMK election wing told ThePrint, “We introspected our political trajectory and found that we had spent most of our time either explaining our stand on those ousted from the party or about our alliance partner. From now on, we are going to keenly focus on issues on the ground and question DMK’s ineffectiveness in implementing the schemes.”
Coalition govt point of concern
Associate professor Sunilkumar also highlighted that Amit Shah’s statement Friday on an NDA coalition government might be a point of concern among AIADMK workers.
At the press conference announcing the alliance, Shah said BJP and AIADMK would not fight the 2026 polls under the leadership of EPS, but form the government together.
“Ever since 1967, both DMK and AIADMK have roped in several parties in their alliance. But they never formed a coalition government. Even when DMK did not have enough MLAs to form a government, they got the support of their alliance partners and formed a minority government,” Sunilkumar said. “So, a coalition government is not something that people of Tamil Nadu are used to, and they have high doubts over the union of the parties in power.”
On Wednesday, EPS said there would not be any coalition government in Tamil Nadu after the 2026 assembly polls, and that the alliance is only for the election.
“He has made it clear that the alliance is headed by me at the state and Prime Minister Modi at the Centre. So, there is no reason to take it otherwise. It is just an alliance, and there will be no sharing of power,” EPS said.
Sathyan pointed out that “even the present DMK government is an alliance government”.
Adding, “So, there is no problem in forming an alliance government. When it comes to sharing power, we will see to it after the assembly elections.”
At the BJP’s end, Tamil Nadu party president Nainar Nagendran told ThePrint that the alliance talks were being held by the national leaders and issues related to power sharing would be decided by the national leadership. “We are in alliance with AIADMK and we would work hard to remove the DMK from power,” he said.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also Read: As Amit Shah confirms tie-up for 2026, a look at AIADMK & BJP’s hot-and-cold equation over the years