INDIA bloc an ideological alliance, not formed for polls: Stalin
Responding to Stalin, EPS said that the AIADMK will stitch together a “formidable” alliance for the 2026 elections
After the Leader of Opposition, Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS), said that the DMK-led INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu will break soon, chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Wednesday hit back saying that the AIADMK general secretary, who has been day dreaming, has also become an astrologer to predict the fall of a seven-year-old alliance.
The members of the INDIA bloc have been with the DMK for the last seven years and were previously called the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu. “Our alliance (INDIA bloc) was not formed just for elections. Our alliance is an ideological alliance,” Stalin said.
His assertion comes amid speculation of fissures within the tie-up after DMK’s alliance partners such as the Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and two Left parties recently opposed the ruling government on several issues, including law and order and a hooch tragedy.
“I was under the impression that Palaniswami was daydreaming as he said that the DMK’s popularity was on the decline,” Stalin told a gathering at a wedding event in Chennai. “But now I have come to know that he has become an astrologer to predict that the alliance will break soon. I am not sure when he became an astrologer. He is frustrated.”
Stalin asserted that the DMK will win a second straight term in the 2026 assembly elections. “I would like to categorically tell Palaniswami that the DMK-led alliance was not stitched for elections, not with an aim to come to power,” the CM said. “The alliance was formed ideologically. There will be discussions and debates in our alliance. But there won’t be cracks. Palaniswami seems to be bothered more about what’s happening in the DMK than his own party.”
Responding to Stalin on Wednesday, EPS during a party event in Salem district said that the AIADMK will stitch together a “formidable” alliance for the 2026 elections. He also said that a “national party” had asked his party to join hands together for the 2024 polls, referring indirectly to the BJP with whom AIADMK parted ways last September. They contested without the BJP so as to be with the people without any compulsion of alliance dharma, EPS added. “Stalin said I’m daydreaming. That’s not me but him…Assembly elections are different from parliamentary elections,” EPS said since the DMK had won all the seats in this year’s Lok Sabha elections.