NEW DELHI: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced an alliance for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections 2026 in a joint press conference. Union home minister Amit Shah formally announced while adding that Edappadi K Palaniswami will lead NDA in the elections.
“AIADMK and BJP leaders have decided that AIADMK, BJP and all the alliance parties will contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu together as NDA,” Shah said.
“These elections will be contested under the leadership of PM Modi on a national level and under the leadership of AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami on the state level,” he said.
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On the question of conditions put forth for alliance by AIADMK, Shah refuted the reports asserting “there was no demand” by the party.
Shah also said that AIADMK has been part of the NDA since 1998 and PM Modi and former CM and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa had worked together in the past. Shah while answering to “what took so long ” question said, “It took time because this alliance is now permanent.”
The alliance announcement came just a day after K Annamalai decided to not contest for Tamil Nadu party unit chief post.
Earlier in March, AIADMK general secretary and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami met Union home minister Amit Shah in last month.
On March 28, Annamalai described the 2026 elections as an opportunity to dethrone the DMK, citing corruption allegations and a “deteriorating law and order situation” in the state. “The DMK should be brought down from power and no vote should get wasted by the votes getting shifted between different parties. Tamil Nadu, as of now, has a five-cornered contest. Nowhere else in the Indian politics you see a five-cornered contest,” he said.
He reiterated that alliance decisions rest with BJP’s national leadership. “With respect to the alliance, you have to understand that for a national party like the BJP, a disciplined party, it is our national leadership that will decide. So, we have committees, we have parliamentary boards which look into a lot of angles before they make the decision.
