Union Home Minister Amit Shah today confirmed that the AIADMK and BJP will contest the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections as part of the NDA alliance. On stage with him was AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and former state BJP president K Annamalai.
“This election will be led nationally by Narendra Modi and in Tamil Nadu by EPS and AIADMK,” Shah said, addressing a gathering of BJP and AIADMK leaders.
Shah also pointed out that the AIADMK has been part of the NDA since 1998, and that Prime Minister Modi and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had worked together in the past. Asserting that the NDA partnership will be victorious, he said, “Our alliance is much stronger. I am fully confident that NDA will win a major victory and an NDA government will be formed in Tamil Nadu.”
Even though he didn’t come out and say it, Shah made it clear that EPS would be the Chief Ministerial candidate for the alliance. “We will fight the election led by EPS,” he said, emphasising on AIADMK’s importance for NDA alliance: “AIADMK joining NDA alliance is useful for NDA.
Alluding to the NDA alliance’s win in 2014 where it won 37 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said that the BJP-AIADMK alliance got 30 Lok Sabha seats.” Stating that AIADMK did not make any demands as part of the alliance, Amit Shah said, “We will discuss about seat sharing later.”
“In the coming days people will vote for corruption, law and order issues, atrocities against women and Dalits,” the Home Minister said, taking on the DMK government. “DMK government has been involved in scams of liquor, sand mining, cash for job, MNREGA and more. Now (MK) Stalin and Udhayanidhi (Stalin) should answer to all,” he added.
The alliance announcement comes on the same day that Nainar Nagendran was appointed as the new BJP state president in Tamil Nadu, replacing Annamalai. His name was proposed by Annamalai himself.
Annamalai’s tenure ended in 2024, but the elections were moved till today, when Nagendran was the only one who filed his nomination.
