Chennai: The principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK, is in discussions with the VCK, a prominent Dalit political party, and the PMK, the political arm of the influential Vanniyar community, to expand its coalition ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The DMK, led by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has already announced its goal of winning 200 out of the 234 Assembly seats in the 2026 elections.
CM Stalin has urged party cadres to work towards achieving this ambitious target.
It may be recalled that the AIADMK failed to win a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and has to build a formidable alliance to challenge the ruling DMK.
The VCK holds significant influence among Dalit voters in Tamil Nadu, while the PMK commands a strong vote bank in the northern part of the state among the Vanniyar community.
Currently, VCK is part of the DMK-led alliance, with four MLAs and two MPs. However, tensions have emerged within the coalition. Recently, VCK Deputy General Secretary Aadhav Arjuna remarked that the party’s leader and MP, Thol Thirumavalavan, has the right to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He also criticised the DMK for not offering ministerial positions to its alliance partners.
This statement drew sharp reactions from the DMK, prompting VCK General Secretary and MP D. Ravikumar to clarify that it was a personal opinion of Aadhav Arjuna, not the party’s official stance.
The PMK, currently aligned with the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is another key player in Tamil Nadu’s political landscape.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly polls, PMK, BJP, and AIADMK were part of the NDA coalition. However, with IPS officer-turned-politician K. Annamalai taking over as the BJP’s Tamil Nadu president, relations between the AIADMK and BJP have soured, leading to a breakup of the alliance.
While some BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu have called for a reunion with the AIADMK, the Dravidian party has categorically ruled out such a possibility.
Meanwhile, Tamil superstar Vijay, who recently entered politics after forming a new party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has refrained from attacking the AIADMK. In his inaugural public address in Vikkaravandi, Villupuram district, on October 27, Vijay criticised both the DMK and BJP but did not attack the AIADMK.
He even invoked the legacy of AIADMK founder and iconic Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR). Vijay’s entry has further opened up the political arena in Tamil Nadu.
Political analyst M.R. Subramanian, based in Coimbatore, remarked, “AIADMK’s effort to forge new alliances is commendable. Aligning with VCK, a Dalit party, and PMK, a Vanniyar political party, could create a robust social engineering model, strengthening AIADMK’s position against the DMK in the 2026 Assembly polls.” However, he added that it remains to be seen whether VCK will leave the DMK-led alliance to join hands with the AIADMK.
(IANS)
