Months after differences over electoral strategy surfaced, former BJP state chief K. Annamalai has launched a new political outfit and pledged to build a people-centric alternative in Tamil Nadu.
The induction of former ministers, ex-MLAs and party functionaries is being projected by TVK as a sign of its growing organisational reach across Tamil Nadu.
Ever since three rebel AIADMK legislators resigned and defected to Chief Minister Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the principal Opposition DMK and the AIADMK, along with others, have attacked the ruling party, accusing it of blatant horse trading to shore up its majority in the Assembly.
During the trust vote held on May 13 for the Vijay government, 25 of the 47 AIADMK legislators, led by former ministers C. Ve. Shanmugam, S.P. Velumani and C. Vijayabhaskar, voted in favour of the government, triggering a split in the party.
There is a popular phrase, “so close, yet so far.” In fact, the current situation of the AIADMK breakaway faction reminds one of another adage: “all dressed up and nowhere to go.”
Reiterating the AIADMK’s stand on forming a government on its own in the 2026 assembly election, party general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy (EPS) has asserted that the Dravidian major is no pushover to succumb to the idea of a coalition government.
While EPS has asserted that his word is final in the alliance, voices from the BJP immediately debunk it, indicating the strain in the dynamics between the two parties.
Arriving at Mettupalayam, accompanied by the recently granted Z+ security cover, EPS offered worship at the Vana Bhadrakali Amman temple in Thekkampatti before kicking off his campaign.
Tamil Nadu BJP’s state president Nainar Nagendran, state general secretary AP Muruganandam, and others will be in attendance and share the dais with EPS at Mettupalayam.
There is a sense of unease in the principal opposition party AIADMK, turning its re-entry into the BJP-led NDA a tenuous one after Union Home Minister and saffron strategist Amit Shah skipped AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) as the Chief Ministerial face of the alliance and reiterated once again that it will be a coalition government in the Dravidian heartland.
