Tirunelveli: In a significant political address that has set the tone for the upcoming state elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the AIADMK-BJP alliance is poised to form the next government in Tamil Nadu in 2026. The announcement was made during a packed booth committee conference of the state BJP, which saw the participation of executives from 30 assembly constituencies. However, the minister’s speech, brimming with confidence about the alliance’s electoral prospects, was notably silent on the name of AIADMK’s leader, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, as the chief ministerial candidate, a move that has ignited widespread political speculation.
Speaking under the holy land of Tamil Nadu, Shah began his address by paying homage to the Tamil soil and expressing his regret for not being able to speak in the local language. He highlighted the party’s commitment to the state by pointing to its candidate for the Vice Presidential election, CP Radhakrishnan. Shah then presented a detailed vote-share arithmetic to bolster his prediction, stating that the BJP had secured 18 percent of the vote in the last assembly elections, while the AIADMK-led alliance had garnered 21 percent. He asserted that this combined strength of 39 percent makes the alliance unbeatable and positioned not merely as a political coalition but as a force for the progress of the people of Tamil Nadu. He emphatically called for the uprooting of the ruling DMK party.
Strategic Silence on Leadership Sparks Political Debate
This strategic omission regarding the chief minister’s face is not a first for the senior BJP leader. Months prior, in an interview, Shah had similarly stated that “someone from AIADMK” would become the Chief Minister if the alliance came to power, carefully avoiding any direct endorsement of Palaniswami. This stands in contrast to the stance of former state BJP president, K. Annamalai, who had previously directed party workers to work towards making Edappadi Palaniswami the CM, though he too had clarified that the final decision rests with the BJP’s top brass. This consistent pattern of ambiguity from the central leadership has led to intense analysis and raised pointed questions about the CM face within the National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu, ensuring that the leadership question remains a central topic of political discourse.