“The meeting with Amit Shah comes after alliance talks with the BJP’s central leadership were finalised a week ago,” a senior AIADMK leader from the western region told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
The leader added that an official announcement may not come anytime soon as they have other tasks to complete in Tamil Nadu.
BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu also confirmed the AIADMK’s re-entry into the NDA fold.
“The BJP’s national co-in-charge for Tamil Nadu, P. Sudhakar Reddy, was in Tamil Nadu last week. He has expressed that the AIADMK is back to the NDA. However, he told us that the national leadership would announce the same close to the 2026 assembly elections,” a senior BJP leader from the western region of Tamil Nadu told ThePrint.
Even as EPS was meeting Amit Shah in Delhi, back in Tamil Nadu, state BJP president K. Annamalai, along with his alliance party leaders, including former chief minister O. Panneerselvam and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, attended an iftar party organised by the Tamil Nadu BJP minority wing in Chennai.
“The iftar party is just the beginning and just like this, we all are going to sit united and form the next government,” Tamilisai Soundararajan, former BJP state president and former Telangana governor, told the media.
Also Read: Could BJP & AIADMK revive alliance for 2026 Tamil Nadu polls? Annamalai’s change of tone sparks buzz
Bitter split
The AIADMK and BJP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election and 2021 assembly elections together, before the AIADMK severed ties in September 2023, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The bitter split was prompted by Annamalai’s frequent criticism of the AIADMK and former chief minister C.N. Annadurai. The AIADMK also believed that the party was losing minority votes because of its alliance with the BJP.
Speculation of a patch-up had been swirling in recent months, although both parties on record maintain that any announcement on an alliance will only be made by their leadership close to the 2026 assembly elections.
But senior party leaders from both parties have confirmed to ThePrint they have reached a consensus and will resolve their differences and unite for the 2026 assembly election, with the shared objective of defeating the DMK.
They said the reunion between the AIADMK and BJP was negotiated by the BJP’s central leadership.
A senior AIADMK leader from Tamil Nadu’s western region said the BJP leadership was firm on retaining Annamalai as the party’s state president, though both sides had reached a consensus on several other issues.
“We were clearly told not to meet Amit Shah with the demand to remove Annamalai. So, we also told them not to pressure us to take back O. Panneerselvam (former AIADMK leader who was expelled from the party) into the party,” the senior leader added.
Meanwhile, both parties continue to publicly downplay the alliance talks.
AIADMK former minister and senior leader D. Jayakumar told ThePrint the meeting focused solely on the state’s law and order situation and was unrelated to alliance talks.
Annamalai, when asked about a possible AIADMK return to the NDA, also told the media on Tuesday night that the alliance remained open to all parties. However, he denied any “political calculation” behind the Amit Shah-EPS meeting.
“Any party in the country can meet the home minister and discuss their issues. There is no political calculation behind this meeting,” he said.
Despite the denials, political analysts view the rapprochement as a strategic move to counter the DMK in the 2026 assembly elections.
“There is a new alignment between the parties to the emerging situation. Even though the AIADMK might have problems with a lot of issues, including the three-language formula and the delimitation issue, they would continue to speak for the state and against the DMK,” Ramu Manivannan, former professor and head of political science department at Madras University, told ThePrint.
“Since elections are all about winning seats, they would keep these differences between them at a distance,” he added.
AIADMK and BJP’s reunion
Both parties have been vocally critical of each other before and after the Lok Sabha election, but they softened their tone after September 2024, though they never showed any signs of truce.
Despite the war of words, the BJP’s top leadership has urged both parties to expand the NDA alliance, particularly by bringing in parties currently aligned with the DMK, a senior AIADMK leader said.
“The alliance is not based on any ideological ground, but purely to remove the DMK from power. To emphasise this more, the BJP’s central leadership wanted more parties from the DMK alliance to join NDA,” another senior AIADMK leader from the western region said.
To address differences between the BJP state leadership and the AIADMK, the national leadership also proposed forming a committee to discuss alliance strategy and seat sharing.
“We do not know if Annamalai will also be there in the committee. They suggested forming such a committee, but this committee formation is at a preliminary stage,” the senior leader said.
Political commentator Priyan said that the shift in stance came after the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam-led by Vijay turned down an alliance offer from the AIADMK.
“The AIADMK also sort of realised that they cannot defeat the DMK on their own. They have also realised that there is no point in leaving the NDA alliance for minority votes since they did not get that as well in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Priyan said.
One of the BJP’s central leaders who spoke to ThePrint also shared similar views.
“If we had contested the Lok Sabha election, we would have won at least 10 seats in the state but the AIADMK lost a chance. We are growing in the state even without an alliance. We have got 11 percent votes and together with our NDA partners, we came second in more than 12 Lok Sabha seats,” the central leader told ThePrint.
“The AIADMK has realised that without a formidable alliance, defeating the DMK is not possible in the assembly election. The AIADMK has a statewide cadre, we are a national party with a strong leader like PM Modi who has the narrative and organisation to push the alliance. The DMK’s entire campaign on language formula and delimitation is only to restrict the BJP’s growth in the state.”
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured an 11.24 percent vote share in Tamil Nadu while the AIADMK garnered 20.46 percent.
Another BJP source in Delhi confirmed to ThePrint that the BJP has assured the AIADMK it will protect its interests on the delimitation issue.
“The AIADMK has reservations on two things. First, the BJP’s overtures with party rebels TTV and former CM Panneerselvam. Second is the BJP’s strong narrative on the language formula and the protection of Tamil Nadu’s interests in the delimitation process,” the BJP source said.
“The BJP has clarified that it will protect the AIADMK’s interest and gave enough assurance to save face on delimitation to counter the DMK. The DMK is only using both issues to consolidate its vote bank, and the BJP will provide enough cover to the AIADMK to counter the DMK,” the leader added.
The BJP leader further said that elections are driven by a strong narrative, citing the Andhra Pradesh assembly election as an example. He pointed to how the BJP-TDP alliance won a decisive victory by campaigning on corruption and anti-incumbency, bolstered by the central government’s popular support in the state. “This can be replicated in Tamil Nadu too.”
Despite joining hands, the two parties will have their task cut out in the assembly elections.
The AIADMK’s strategy to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election with smaller parties—including the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam founded by actor-turned-politician late Vijayakanth—backfired.
Of the 39 seats, the AIADMK fielded as many as 32 candidates while the rest were contested by its alliance partners, but it failed to win even a single seat.
As the assembly election draws closer, the question is: Will the AIADMK succeed in reversing its political fortunes and dismantling the DMK’s grip on Tamil Nadu?
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: With all-party meeting, DMK sees chance to isolate BJP, rally TN parties ahead of polls
