Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 16: Giving indications of a strange relationship between the alliance partners, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Wednesday insisted that though the party would fight the next elections to the Tamil Nadu state Assembly in alliance with the BJP, in the event of winning a majority his party would form the government alone.
The AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami also denied there was any rift with the BJP but maintained that Tamil Nadu would have a single party government formed by his party and not a multi-party coalition government.
The statement comes amid speculation that seat-sharing talks between his AIADMK and the BJP, his on-again, off-again ally, are ongoing, in the event they defeat the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress pair. But the ex-Chief Minister’s statements seem to put an end to any talk of power sharing a coalition government in the southern state, one in which the BJP has historically struggled for traction and relevance.
“Our alliance will win… but the AIADMK will form the government on its own,” Mr Palaniswami, or EPS, as he is popularly known, said Wednesday. “It is the AIADMK that leads this alliance (and) it is my decision. I will be Chief Minister… BJP has clarified. What more do you need?”
EPS also rubbished rumours of tension with the BJP, with whom he was allied for the 2019 federal and 2021 state polls. “The media needs a sensational story… but there are no cracks in our alliance. The AIADMK will win a majority and form the government independently,” he said.
The ex-Chief Minister last week began his 2026 election campaign by calling the alliance with the BJP a “natural alliance” that will “do good for the people of the state.” The remarks this week echo those from April – days after – the two parties announced their re-alliance. Then EPS had suggested that Tamil voters would not accept the BJP even if in a coalition.
Any deal with the BJP, he suggested then, was “only for the election.” The BJP then played down the statement. The party said it was more focused on winning the 2026 election and removing the DMK-led coalition from power.
The AIADMK – BJP alliance broke in 2023 after strained ties as a result of snide attacks on the former’s political icons by K Annamlai, who was then the state unit boss. But in April 2025 they re-reformed that alliance, this time with Amit Shah insisting no conditions and demands had been placed on the national party. Mr Shah, however, more recently spoke about a coalition government in Tamil Nadu, something that has clearly upset the BJP’s ally.
Tamil actor-politician Vijay’s Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam has provided a parallel narrative so far; it has refused to ally with the DMK or AIADMK, Tamil Nadu’s political giants. Vijay said he would never join ally with the BJP, which he called “our policy enemies and divisive forces”, or Chief Minister MK Stalin’s DMK, which he accused of being ‘owned” by the former. Instead, the actor is set to contest solo and is his party’s chief ministerial candidate.