On 11th April 2025, Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put bitter differences aside with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party and announced an alliance to contest the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)’s recent dominance in Tamil Nadu.
The pair had previously joined forces to contest the Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 2021 before insults and accusations led to a fracture which led each party to pursue the 2024 Lok Sabha elections separately. However, neither had won a single seat in Tamil Nadu.
The revived alliance will seek to capitalise on the increased vote share spearheaded by the BJP’s rising star, Annamalai, who is the party's Tamil Nadu president. He is credited with securing an 8% rise in BJP’s vote share across the State having taken the 2019 Lok Sabha results from a mere 3% of the vote share to a well-recognised 11% last year. Despite not having won any seats, the BJP has framed this rise as political momentum, with New Delhi now seeking to consolidate influence in the South.
Annamalai had long advocated for a BJP-only strategy. His reluctance to pursue alliances with Tamil Nadu political stalwarts was, after a while, dismissed. Speaking on the matter, a senior leader of the BJP told the Indian Express that Annamalai “has been adamant that the BJP contest alone. But the party realised that the move would not be beneficial for the next 10-15 years”.
Recognising the increasing influence wielded by DMK’s Stalin across the State and wider India, the BJP have changed tack and opted for a strategic alliance with the once popular AIADMK. The coalition will be led by Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) as Annamalai loses his leadership post to Nainar Nagendran – an ex-AIADMK lieutenant turned BJP loyalist. The reshuffle has raised concerns over Delhi’s increasing wish for influence over Tamil Nadu’s political direction, as local BJP figures are pushed aside in favour of compliant allies.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K Stalin, has made waves across India with his calls against a delimitation exercise that Delhi aims to implement next year after the population census results are published. According to the Indian constitution, populations across the many districts of India will determine the number of seats occupied by each state in the Lok Sabha.
Fears from Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, DMK, have sparked a nationwide movement to prevent unfair delimitation which will see the dialling down of representative parliamentarians from states, such as Tamil Nadu, who have actively implemented policies to tighten population growth. DMK MPs remain defiant despite assurances from Delhi that Tamil Nadu seats will not be slashed. In a fireside chat on the topic of North-South divides, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi was pressed on this matter directly at the Times Now Summit 2025. When asked why she couldn’t take the government’s assurances at face value, she responded with, “unfortunately, you cannot take any of the assurances of this government at face value. They have a history of failing people so we are concerned.”
She continued by asking for further clarity from the government regarding delimitation. “When he [Home Minister, Amit Shah] came to Tamil Nadu, the Home Minister said, ‘on a pro rata basis, we [Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha] will not lose seats’. We want to know what that means. We want clarity on that. Are you going to increase the number of seats? Are you going to keep it as it is?”
The Tamil Nadu Assembly elections are expected to be held in April-May of 2026. One of Tamil cinema’s grandest stars and leader of the Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) party, Vijay, denounced the alliance, deeming it a “coercive equation”.
With regards to DMK, the former actor added, “In the upcoming elections, BJP will try to portray itself as the only alternative to DMK, and DMK will do the same. But this is just political theatre. Both parties are ideological opponents in public, but hidden partners in reality.”
