A more conciliatory approach – The Hindu

AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami addresses the party cadre at a meeting in Attur in Salem district.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The AIADMK general secretary and Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who burnt his fingers during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by not stitching up an alliance with several anti-DMK parties, seems to be changing tack regarding the BJP.

This was evident last week in Attur in Salem district. A journalist asked whether the AIADMK was holding talks with the BJP for an alliance for the 2026 Assembly elections. Mr. Palaniswami said that the AIADMK’s goal was to defeat its “only enemy”, the DMK, and that the party was looking “to harvest all votes against the DMK…” Till recently, Mr. Palaniswami had maintained that the AIADMK would form a “formidable alliance” and fight the elections without any electoral understanding with the BJP, as it did in 2024. His party has so far been soft on the latest entrant to Tamil Nadu politics, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), founded by actor Vijay.

The timing of the statement is significant. Just a day earlier, the bonhomie between leaders of the BJP and the AIADMK was on display at the wedding of the son of former Minister, S.P. Velumani, in Coimbatore. The BJP State president, K. Annamalai, and a host of the AIADMK’s second-line leaders exchanged pleasantries. Mr. Palaniswami was absent then, but attended the reception on March 10.

In fact, the AIADMK has cited the Annamalai factor as the main reason for the severance of ties with the BJP in September 2023. Its main grouse was that Mr. Annamalai had disrespected its “guiding lights”, such as former Chief Ministers C.N. Annadurai and Jayalalithaa. Even Mr. Palaniswami had given the impression all along that he was unmindful of his party’s disastrous performance last year, by holding that the AIADMK, with a 20.66% support base, had increased its vote share by about 1% point compared to 2019.

At the same time, certain sections of the AIADMK are reportedly unhappy with the way the party’s affairs are being run. They are getting restless over the present approach of having no truck with erstwhile colleagues, including former coordinator O. Panneerselvam, and adopting a hard line towards the BJP.

Mr. Velumani was the first to strike a different chord. A few days after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced last year, he claimed that had his party’s alliance with the BJP continued, the alliance could have “easily won” 35-40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. It was another matter that he blamed Mr. Annamalai for the separation of ties between the two parties. In early July 2024, a group of senior leaders, including K.A. Sengottaiyan, Natham R. Viswanathan, Mr. Velumani, P. Thangamani, C. Ve. Shanmugam, and K.P. Anbalagan, met Mr. Palaniswami and impressed upon him the need to bring back all those who are out of the organisation. Even though Mr. Palaniswami denied that such a meeting took place, more than half the leaders confirmed to this journalist that it did happen.

In October, the party’s Kanniyakumari (East) district secretary, N. Thalavai Sundaram, flagged off a rally of the RSS in his part of Kanniyakumari district. Mr. Palaniswami promptly “relieved him temporarily” of the responsibilities of the posts of district and organisation secretary. A month later, Mr. Sundaram was re-inducted into the party after he regretted his conduct. In early February this year, eyebrows were raised in political circles when AIADMK veteran, Mr. Sengottaiyan, known for maintaining a low profile, stayed away from an event organised by farmers to honour Mr. Palaniswami in Annur, Coimbatore district, for the Avinashi-Athikadavu water project, which eventually took off in 2019. His criticism was that the invites and banners for the event did not feature the images of former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa, who were instrumental in keeping the project alive.

It was against this backdrop that Mr. Palaniswami called for the consolidation of anti-DMK forces and sounded conciliatory not only towards the BJP, but also those in his party who have been keen on reviving ties with the national party. Mr. Annamalai responded saying that there were parties “performing penance” to forge an alliance; Mr. Palaniswami rejected this. The AIADMK chief said he would firm up the alliance in six months, but is keeping everyone guessing on whether he would go along with the BJP or strike a deal with the TVK.