AIADMK Backtracks On BJP Coalition? Alliance Only For Elections, Hints EPS

Last week the BJP and AIADMK unveiled an alliance for the 2026 Tamil Nadu election.

This week the Dravidian party seemed to threw a spanner into its ally's plans for the southern state, in the event the alliance manages to defeat the ruling DMK-Congress combine.

Comments by AIADMK boss Edappadi K Palaniswami, or EPS, suggest the Tamil party will not accept a coalition government and that the alliance with the BJP is "only for the election".

The apparent backtrack comes amid reports some AIADMK leaders are unhappy with the prospect of a BJP alliance. The unhappiness stems from the duo's poor track record in the last two major elections in the state - the 2019 Assembly and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Questions have reportedly also been asked about the possible loss of votes from minority communities, including the Muslims, in light of protests against changes to the Waqf laws.

Anti-Waqf sentiment is running high in Tamil Nadu; in fact, Tamil actor-politician Vijay's fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has challenged the new Waqf laws in the Supreme Court.

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