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Coalition will win TN polls, AIADMK to form govt, says EPS
AIADMK leader EPS insists his party will independently form the government, contradicting BJP's Shah on a coalition government post-2026 elections.
Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition party, the AIADMK, and its ally, the BJP, continue to contradict each other on the formation of the government led by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), in the event of the coalition winning the 2026 assembly elections in the state.
While Union home minister Amit Shah has previously said that the NDA led by the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu will form a coalition government, the AIADMK’s general secretary and leader of opposition, Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) on Wednesday reiterated his stand against it.
“Our alliance will win but the AIADMK will form the government independently,” EPS said in response to Shah’s comments, adding, “It is the AIADMK that leads this alliance. So it is my decision. BJP has also clarified that I will be chief minister. What more do you need?”
EPS added that Shah meant that the alliance will form the government but that did not mean it will be a coalition government. Earlier, on July 12, EPS had said that the AIADMK would secure a majority on its own.
EPS is currently on a state-wide tour ahead of next year’s elections and is campaigning alongside BJP leaders.
Shah had told a Tamil daily in June that the NDA will form a coalition government in Tamil Nadu after the 2026 assembly elections, sparking a political controversy and push back from the AIADMK. Senior AIADMK leaders had said that Tamil Nadu voters would reject a coalition government, citing the example of the1980 assembly elections in TN – when the DMK and the Congress proposed a coalition government and were rejected by the people, who proceeded to vote the AIADMK in as the single largest party.
Both the DMK and the AIADMK, have historically resisted coalition governments in Tamil Nadu, even though they have been part of coalition governments at the national level. In the 2006 assembly elections, when no party had an absolute majority, then-DMK chief M Karunanidhi formed a minority government with outside support from parties such as the Congress and Left parties.
The AIADMK and BJP came together for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. AIADMK walked out of the NDA in 2023, accusing then-BJP state chief K Annamalai of insulting its leaders. After a bitter separation, the two parties came together on April 11, when Shah announced in Chennai that they would fight the 2026 elections together and form a coalition government.
The two parties fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elections separately. Both were handed a sound defeat by the ruling DMK, which swept the election as part of the INDIA bloc, winning all 39 parliamentary seats. The AIADMK registered a 20.4% vote share in one of its worst performances while BJP, which was contesting in a larger number of seats, registered one of its best performances in TN with a 11.4% vote share.
“No attempts to create a rift in the alliance will succeed. This is a stable alliance,” EPS said on Wednesday. He also said that the DMK was showing double standards, having joined hands with BJP in the past but criticising the AIADMK for forming an alliance.
Responding to reporters’ questions on EPS’s comments on Wednesday, BJP state president Nainar Nagendran also added that there was no rift. “He (EPS) said that our alliance will form the government. That will happen. There is nothing more to talk about it, is there?” Nainar said.
