Palaniswami remains tight-lipped on AIADMK-BJP tie-up, says alliances formed only during elections

When asked on his meeting with Amit Shah and on the possibility of an electoral alliance with the BJP, he wondered if election has been announced and asked the need to answer 'yes' or 'no' to the question of forming alliance.

New Delhi/Chennai: Dropping enough hints that he was not averse to an electoral understanding with the BJP, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday said a decision on the alliance will be taken closer to the 2026 elections in which the party’s only goal was to defeat the DMK dispensation led by Chief Minister M K Stalin.

Palaniswami also took pains to explain that ideology of a party and alliance are two different things. While ideology remains constant, alliance could change according to political circumstances, in what is seen as a clear indication that the AIADMK has changed its stance vis-à-vis BJP and is moving towards an alliance with the saffron party for the assembly polls.

The statement by Palaniswami comes a day after his meeting with Union Home Minister and BJP’s master strategist Amit Shah in New Delhi, which created ripples in political circles in Tamil Nadu. However, Palaniswami maintained, during his interactions with media in New Delhi and Chennai, that he only discussed “people’s issues” with Shah on Tuesday but parried questions on whether politics came up for discussion.

“Tell me one party that has never changed its alliance partners? Alliances are decided based on political situation and circumstances. We will take a call on alliance close to the elections. Please don’t worry, we will inform the media about our decision,” Palaniswami said, when asked whether he had changed his stance that there will never be an alliance with the BJP.

To another question, the AIADMK chief made it clear that the party’s only enemy was the ruling DMK. “Our only goal in 2026 is to ensure that the anti-people DMK government is ousted from power at any cost,” he added.

Sources told DH that the AIADMK-BJP alliance is almost certain and it will take a couple of months to work out the modalities before making the electoral understanding public. “The fact that Palaniswami, who had been maintaining a safe distance from the BJP, flew to Delhi to meet Shah tells that the meeting was a mere formality. Both parties believe they could defeat the DMK if they join hands,” a source said.

The source added that the Shah-EPS meeting was “cordial” and the ice was broken about 18 months after the AIADMK walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) blaming TN BJP chief K Annamalai for its decision. “Things will be crystal clear in three months and both parties believe that they have to work together as a team to gain momentum on the ground,” another source said.

Meanwhile, the DMK “cautioned” the AIADMK on its “wrong calculation” in a veiled reference to the alliance talks with the BJP. Finance Minister Thangam Thenarasu told AIADMK MLAs in the Assembly that they were talking about “calculations” of the DMK government while indulging in “wrong calculations” when it came to alliance.

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.