CHENNAI: A day after holding a lengthy discussion with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday reiterated the electoral alliances never remain static, as they keep changing depending on the political weather. He also asserted the AIADMK will make every effort to unseat the ‘anti-people’ DMK government in the 2026 Assembly election.
The AIADMK chief was replying to queries from reporters in Chennai after his return from New Delhi.
To a specific question as to whether he is still firm on the stand taken after the 2024 Lok Sabha election that the AIADMK won’t forge an alliance with the BJP again, Palaniswami did not give a direct reply. Instead, he emphatically said, “Has any party remained firm in its stance on the electoral alliance? Have all the parties currently in the DMK bloc remained firm in the alliance? Will they continue to stay there? It’s impossible to say. This is politics. Changes take place based on the political situation. How can one predict that now? The anti-people DMK government must be removed. For that, the AIADMK will make every effort.”
When a reporter asked whether the talks between him and Amit Shah ended in alliance between the AIADMK and BJP, Palaniswami said, “You (media) only speculate that way. We discussed only people’s issues. We gave a detailed description of the schemes for Tamil Nadu.”
Palaniswami said electoral alliances are formed when elections near. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the 2021 Assembly election, alliances were formed only when the polls approached.
Palaniswami also said the AIADMK team had explained in detail the alleged Tasmac scam in the state and the ED action in this regard.
“The union minister also asked about the prevalence of narcotic substances and we explained that. We told him that Tamil Nadu’s situation is getting worsened. As such, the central government should intervene to put a full stop to that,” he added.
The AIADMK leader also said they urged the union home minister to release the pending funds for many schemes, including Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.
He said the AIADMK delegation also urged Shah that the two-language policy should continue in Tamil Nadu and that the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies should be held without affecting the state.
Expeditious implementation of the Godavary-Cauvery river linking project, disbursal of funds for Nadanthai Vaazhi and railway projects, need for directing Karnataka to act according to the Supreme Court verdict regarding Mekedatu dam issue, advising Kerala to allow measures to strengthen Mullaiperiyar dam to increase its storage capacity to 142ft, etc were other issues raised with the union home minister, Palaniswami added.