EPS, Amit Shah meet in Delhi: BJP and AIADMK preparing ground for an alliance?

Chennai: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday met Union Home Minister and BJP’s master strategist Amit Shah, ostensibly to discuss “failing law and order” in Tamil Nadu, but the development is likely to culminate in the two parties coming together for an electoral alliance after a messy split in 2023.

The meeting in New Delhi sent ripples in Tamil Nadu politics with assembly elections just a year away and at a time when the DMK is making a conscious attempt to steal a march on contentious and emotive issues like delimitation and two-language policy.

The AIADMK, which entered into an alliance with the BJP in 2019, walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September 2023 after blaming Tamil Nadu unit chief K Annamalai for its decision.

Despite an open invitation from Shah, Palaniswami kept the BJP at a safe distance in the run-up to and during the 2024 polls, but the DMK’s 40/40 victory, its arithmetically strong alliance, and its projection of the 2026 poll as one between Tamil Nadu versus Delhi seem to have made him change his mind. Both parties drew a blank in last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Annamalai, who was opposed to an alliance with the AIADMK, is also being convinced by the high command about the need to put up a “strong opposition” to the DMK, sources said.

“He (Palaniswami) has no option. It is only natural that EPS joins hands with the BJP and leads the AIADMK-led alliance for the 2026 polls. This is a safe bet for him. Not just the AIADMK, everyone understands Vijay is making inroads and we both have to join hands,” a source in the know DH.

‘Political discussion’

Though Tuesday’s meeting with Shah was primarily to read a complaint list against the DMK dispensation, the source said, politics did come up for discussion.

“Who else decides alliance in the BJP other than Amit Shah? This meeting will break the ice between the two parties and there will be more such discussions before they clinch an understanding. Both parties have issues with the other and efforts will be taken to sort them out. A clear picture is expected in about three months,” another source said.

The meeting was preceded by a discussion between Shah and TMC chief G K Vasan, who was the BJP’s emissary to Palaniswami during the 2024 polls, which is yet another hint that the meeting wasn’t merely “official.”

The second source quoted above also added that the BJP will continue to be led by Annamalai in Tamil Nadu and if needed, a high-powered committee will be constituted during the elections to deal with the AIADMK.

The source also explained that if the alliance has to work on the ground, it should take shape at least six months before the assembly polls to make an impact. “That’s why work on the alliance started a year before,” the source added. 

How accommodative will the AIADMK be? 

Even if an alliance works out between the two, it remains to be seen how EPS will handle the pressure from the BJP on accommodating rebel AIADMK leaders like O Panneerselvam, T T V Dhinakaran, and V K Sasikala.

However, the source said Palaniswami should understand that Thevars, an influential community, is moving away from the AIADMK because of his action of sidelining O Panneerselvam and T T V Dhinakaran, who belong to the caste. “We believe that it will be AIADMK plus the existing NDA bloc,” the source added.

“We believe that it will be AIADMK plus the existing NDA bloc,” the source said, and noted that the party rebels OPS and TTV did emerge the runner-up pushing the AIADMK to the third position in the seats that they contested. “It was the case in 2021 as well. AIADMK needs to strengthen itself in Southern TN,” the source added. 

Palaniswami, who took a flight from Chennai alone in the morning, was joined by his lieutenants S P Velumani, and K P Munusamy in the evening.

The meeting also assumes significance as it comes three weeks after Palaniswami said the AIADMK’s goal was to “defeat” the DMK government in the 2026 assembly polls by ensuring that the anti-DMK votes don’t get split among opposition parties.

Speculation of the two parties coming together also gained credence when BJP leaders got prominence over others at the wedding of Velumani’s son earlier this month. For the AIADMK, which couldn’t stitch a formidable alliance for the 2024 polls, next year’s assembly elections are crucial with the party failing to win any election held after the demise of J Jayalalithaa in 2016.

In 2024, the AIADMK snubbed multiple offers from the BJP for an alliance and contested the Lok Sabha polls alone – both BJP and AIADMK drew a blank.

Though Annamalai was also against BJP tying up with the AIADMK, he also came around a couple of months back to stress the need for “unity” among all anti-DMK parties.