Owing to internal tussles, Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition party, AIADMK, is in deep trouble, as there are barely six months left for the summer 2026 polls in the state.
Amid such a situation, the party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) is expected to travel to New Delhi on Tuesday, 16th September, to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also BJP’s chief election strategist. It was in the presence of Shah, that the AIADMK and BJP formally announced their association under the National Democratic Alliance in April this year.
Palaniswami’s Delhi visit also coincides with the 10-day deadline issued by AIADMK veteran leader Sengottaiyan. On September 5th, AIADMK veteran Sengottaiyan publicly expressed the urgent need for their party to re-induct leaders who were expelled in recent years. He reasoned that this must be done to improve the party’s prospects in the 2026 polls. He had set a 10-day deadline for the re-induction of ousted leaders and also emphasised that the party is presently in a weak position and needs to reunite to take on the ruling DMK.
Though Sengottaiyan has not specified who the ousted leaders are, it is widely regarded that he is referring to VK Sasikala, a close aide of J. Jayalalithaa, and O. Panneerselvam, a former chief minister and senior AIADMK leader, among others. The AIADMK, once a formidable political force in the southern Indian state, has been facing a leadership crisis since the demise of then chief minister and party supremo J. Jayalalithaa in 2016.
“Palaniswami can decide whom to reunite… those who have been ousted from AIADMK were in important posts… I feel that they should be reunited…Only then can we accomplish a victory. Party will be strong only when everyone comes together. This should be done urgently…,” Sengottaiyan had said. He also made it clear that if this did not happen within a 10-day deadline, there are like-minded people who are willing to do so for the party. Citing precedent, he touched upon the need to “forgive and forget” in the interest of the party.
Following Sengottaiyan’s remarks, both ousted AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and VK Sasikala came out in support of the veteran leader and his suggestions. Shortly after, Sengottaiyan went public with his remarks on the reunification of the party. He was expelled from his party post. However, Sengottaiyan continues as a member of the AIADMK. Last week, Sengottaiyan was in Delhi and had a meeting with Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, further fuelling speculation that the BJP was causing a rift within their ally AIADMK.
With six months to go for the polls, differences emerging from within the AIADMK top brass are not an encouraging sign for the state’s main opposition party and the overall NDA alliance. Further, smaller parties such as TTV Dinakaran’s AMMK have announced their decision to quit the NDA. Earlier, O Panneerselvam too announced his decision to move out of the NDA. PMK, a former ally of the NDA, now faces an internal leadership struggle between the father-son duo that are the prominent faces of the party. DMDK, a former NDA ally and the party of late actor-politician Vijayakant, is now signalling its intentions to join the DMK-led front.
It is amid such a crisis that Palaniswami is heading to Delhi to meet Amit Shah. Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK often accuses the AIADMK of “surrendering to the BJP”. Amid their election campaigning, the DMK has also been mounting attacks against what they referred to as the multiple factions within the opposition party AIADMK. Countering this, the AIADMK has hit back at the DMK for dynastic politics.
Commenting on the impending meeting between Palaniswami and Amit Shah, Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Nainar Nagenthran downplayed it by calling it a meeting between leaders of parties that are in an alliance and that they could meet anytime. However, he refused to divulge details about the meeting and said that such information would be available only after the meeting.