Dhinakaran rules out rapproachment with AIADMK, NDA in Tamil Nadu

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Monday (November 10, 2025) ruled out any rapprochement with the AIADMK and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu. 

Interacting with journalists at his party office in Chennai, Mr. Dhinakaran said, “According to me, the AIADMK is no longer in existence. It is only EDMK.” He added that the letter ‘E’ stood for AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

Emphasising that neither he nor his party colleagues would ever entertain the thought of working under Mr. Palaniswami’s leadership — let alone making him Chief Minister — Mr. Dhinakaran called the AIADMK leader a “betrayer,” as the latter had turned against those who were responsible in 2017 for nominating him to the post of Chief Minister. 

“We [the AMMK] have come a long way” was Mr. Dhinakaran’s response, when asked whether his party, which quit the NDA in September, would return to the alliance. “We do not even think on this line,” he said. It was former president of the State unit of the BJP K. Annamalai who had, on a few occasions, personally and publicly appealed to him to reconsider the decision. Mr. Annamalai had also stopped doing it, as he understood his [Mr. Dhinakaran’s] position.

As for the BJP’s role in unifying all the followers of former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa, the AMMK general secretary said in the run-up to the 2021 Assembly election, the national party had conveyed to him that “all should come under one umbrella.”

“When I was with them [the BJP] for one year, no one had raised the matter with me,” he quipped, adding that it was his “feeling” that even during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when he was in the NDA, the BJP’s senior leader and Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah had waited for a considerable period of time for Mr. Palaniswami and others to rejoin the alliance. At present, former Minister of School Education K.A. Sengottaiyan was making a similar attempt.  

Mr. Dhinakaran ridiculed the AIADMK for having “reached the height of frustration” over not being able to rope in the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), led by actor Vijay, after trying to “woo the TVK vigorously.” The Dravidian major had adopted several means to forge an alliance with the TVK but Mr. Vijay had made his position clear.

Reiterating that the “primary objective” of his party was to ensure the defeat of Mr. Palaniswami, the AMMK leader expressed confidence that the formation that included his party would emerge victoriously in the 2026 Assembly poll.  

On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Mr. Dhinakaran called for simplification of enumeration forms or the postponement of the revision process.