AIADMK-BJP alliance will win 2026 TN polls: EPS at party meet

Chennai, Dec 10 Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday asserted that the ruling DMK had lost the confidence of the people and that the AIADMK-led alliance would sweep the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections with a clear majority.

He also claimed that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was “rattled” by the renewed political understanding between the AIADMK and the BJP.

Addressing the AIADMK executive committee and general council meeting at Vanagaram near Chennai, Palaniswami revisited electoral trends since 1991 to argue that voting patterns in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were distinctly different.

As an illustration, he noted that in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the AIADMK-led combine was ahead in only two of the 234 Assembly segments across the State. Yet, in the 2021 Assembly elections, the same alliance went on to win 75 seats.

Drawing a parallel with the present political situation, he said the AIADMK and the BJP, which had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections separately, had now come together.

Palaniswami alleged that only about one-fourth of the promises made by the DMK before the 2021 elections had been fulfilled in the nearly four-and-a-half years of its rule. He accused the government of acting under pressure from the AIADMK in rolling out the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance scheme for women. He also charged that the ruling dispensation had disappointed the youth and announced free laptops for college students only towards the end of its term to woo voters.

The Opposition leader further alleged widespread corruption across government departments and demanded a Rs 5,000 Pongal cash gift for ration card holders.

The meeting adopted 16 resolutions, including formally endorsing the AIADMK-BJP alliance, authorising Palaniswami to decide future alliance partners, urging the Union government to clear the Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects, and backing the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The session was chaired by Deputy General Secretary K.P. Munusamy, appointed as the temporary praesidium chairman in view of the age-related constraints of A. Tamil Magan Hussain. Minor chaos was reported at the venue before the meeting began as cadres broke barricades to gain entry, leaving a few injured who were given first aid.

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