AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami meets Union Minister Piyush Goyal, in Chennai, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Taking the lead, the AIADMK on Tuesday launched seat-sharing talks with the BJP for the 2026 Assembly elections as Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami here.
It is believed that the AIADMK is resolute that it would contest about 170 of the total 234 seats, leaving the remaining 64 to alliance partners, subtly making the point that the party aims to form a government of its own in the event of winning the April-May 2026 elections.
Goyal, who was appointed as the BJP’s election in-charge last week, stressed on the need for “ground-level coordination” among cadres and leaders of all constituents, while contending that the BJP’s support base and vote share have witnessed an increase in the last few years, sources told DH.
The sources added that Palaniswami might also not be averse to accepting rebel leaders such as O Panneerselvam and T T V Dhinakaran as alliance partners as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), provided they accepted his leadership, but a clarity will emerge only after a few weeks. The discussions also included talks of having parties like the DMDK, led by actor Vijayakant’s wife Premalatha, into the NDA, apart from PMK, which is battling internal troubles.
“This is a good start. When other alliances haven’t started election work, we have formally launched the seat-sharing talks. Through this, we want to send a message that our alliance is strong and we have the political muscle to take on the DMK. This is a preliminary meeting. We will have more meetings in January,” a senior AIADMK leader told DH.
For the record, Goyal said the discussions centered around strengthening their alliance to fight the 2026 Assembly election. “We will work for a bright future for Tamil Nadu,” Goyal added. Palaniswami said the discussions focused on ousting the “anti-people DMK government” from power.
Goyal’s meeting with Palaniswami came amid reports that the BJP has identified about 50 seats for the party and another 15 seats for “friendly partners” to contest on the Lotus symbol as it believes the party should be allotted “more seats” this election based on its 11 per cent vote share secured in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
However, sources said the AIADMK leadership is clear that the party should contest about 170 seats and leave only the remaining 64 to alliance parties. “We can’t get less than 170 seats as all Dravidian parties contest a similar number of seats. We have to cater to our party people, and we can’t compromise on this,” the AIADMK leader added.
BJP leaders said though numbers were not discussed at length on Tuesday, they will not accept the 20 seats that they were allotted in the 2021 Assembly polls. “We need seats proportionate to the 11 per cent vote share we got in the 2024 polls,” the leader added.