Palaniswami to begin Tamil Nadu tour in January-end to galvanise AIADMK cadres

Chennai: AIADMK, which hasn’t tasted any electoral victory ever since the passing away of its leader J Jayalalithaa in 2016, is planning a state-wide tour by its general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami from January-end as part of the efforts to reclaim its lost ground.

Additionally, the principal Opposition party is believed to be in talks with I-PAC of ace political strategist Prashant Kishor for devising electoral strategy with the assembly just 16 months away.

Palaniswami, who was thrust into the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s post by his then boss V K Sasikala in February 2017, took complete control of the AIADMK in 2022 after expelling his senior colleague O Panneerselvam from the party, which had removed Sasikala and her nephew T T V Dhinakaran in 2017.

In 2023, Palaniswami walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) by snapping ties with the BJP, but his party faced one of its worst defeats in the 2024 elections with its candidates’ forfeiting deposits in seven constituencies.

Though Palaniswami claims that the party’s vote share has increased by one per cent – from 19 per cent in 2019 to 20 per cent in 2024 – there are little takers to his contention as they point out that the number of seats contested by the AIADMK in 2024 is much higher than that of the 2019 figure.

For the party, 2026 is a crucial election, which is likely to be a crowded affair with the entry of actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) and is under pressure to end its defeat streak.

“Our leader will embark on a state-wide tour to galvanise cadres and meet people. The tour will take him to all 39 districts of Tamil Nadu in the next few months. We believe the tour will give much needed impetus to the party. We have to prepare our cadre for the 2026 elections, and we believe this is the best way,” a senior AIADMK leader told DH.

The fine details of the tour are being worked out and there will be clarity on its structure in a couple of weeks, the leader added. Another leader said that the talks with I-PAC were at an “advanced stage” and a final decision on it will be taken before Palaniswami begins the tour.

“We want to sign up the strategist before the tour as 2025 will be very crucial for us. AIADMK did work with a strategist in 2021, and we are following the same model this time as well,” the leader added.

I-PAC and Kishor had worked for the DMK in the 2021 elections in which the now ruling alliance won 159 seats.

AIADMK, which has faced criticism in the past for allegedly ceding the Opposition space to the BJP, has been quite active in putting the DMK on the mat over a slew of issues, including the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and the Anna University sexual assault case.

“In this backdrop, the tour by EPS will give much-needed momentum to the AIADMK ahead of the polls,” another party leader added.