In message to BJP, EPS says AIADMK will form government as ‘single largest party’
CHENNAI: Desisting from directly responding to Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah’s recent remarks that Tamil Nadu will have an NDA coalition government in 2026 led by the AIADMK, leader of the opposition and AIADMK’s general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the party will win “more seats” and form government as the “single largest party”.
Addressing a party meeting at Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi district on Sunday night, he further said no one would be able to “swallow” the AIADMK as alleged by the DMK.
The idea of a coalition government has been a sticking point in the AIADMK-BJP alliance right from the day it was announced by Shah in Chennai on April 11, when he said that the alliance will win the 2026 Assembly election and form a coalition government.
As this did not go down well with AIADMK’s rank and file since Tamil Nadu has never had a coalition government, Palaniswami, who maintained silence initially, told the media a few days later that Shah’s words were misinterpreted.
However, the issue has cropped up again as Shah, in a recent interview to a Tamil media outlet, clearly said that there will be coalition government in 2026 in TN and that the BJP will be a part of it.
Parties indulging in wordplay on HM’s coalition govt remarks, says AIADMK
While a few senior AIADMK leaders expressed disagreement with Shah’s remarks, Palaniswami had not reacted directly to him until now. On Sunday, his remarks of AIADMK forming the government as the “single largest party” came when he was attacking the ruling DMK for its alleged governance failure and blaming it for being scared of the AIADMK-BJP alliance.
Political analyst Tharasu Shyam said Palaniswami’s remarks indicated that the party would contest in a sizeable number of seats, say around 150, with the intention of securing a majority on its own.
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