On December 15, the BJP high command appointed three Union ministers to oversee its party activities in Tamil Nadu in the run up to the 2026 assembly general elections. The move comes at a time when the national ruling party is pushing hard to gain a foothold in the state by strengthening the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu.
BJP’s national president J.P. Nadda appointed Union minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal as the election in-charge for Tamil Nadu. Goyal will be replacing Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Panda who was appointed as the election in-charge for Tamil Nadu by the BJP high command on September 25. According to sources, Goyal who was the election in-charge in 2021 has again been appointed with an aim to strengthen the NDA. Incidentally, the alliance is in a complete disarray in Tamil Nadu, with all its constituents walking away after AIADMK was roped into the alliance in April this year.
ALSO READ
- VB-G RAM G | 'Replacing Gandhi's name with unpalatable north Indian words': Tamil Nadu CM Stalin lashes out
- TVK Erode rally: All eyes on Sengottaiyan as Vijay plans first major rally after Karur stampede in Erode
- Discounting BJP already? Edappadi Palaniswami says AIADMK will return to power winning 210 seats in Tamil Nadu election
- Thiruparankundram deepam row: INDIA bloc MPs move to impeach Madurai bench's Justice G.R. Swaminathan
- South Korea's HD Hyundai to build billion-dollar shipyard in Tamil Nadu, calls it 'second Ulsan'
The appointment also comes at a time when the AIADMK has asserted itself saying that it is the larger partner in the alliance. During its general council meeting held on December 10, AIADMK said that its general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) will steer the NDA. One of the resolutions passed during the general council (GC) meeting on December 10, asserted AIADMK’s dominance in NDA by giving “full and absolute authority” in EPS to decide on the coalition partners and gave complete control over the seat-sharing arrangements and shape a winnable alliance framework. With this resolution, the AIADMK sent a clear message to the BJP that the national party cannot, anymore, call the shots in Tamil Nadu. The meeting also made it clear that it will not readmit rebels like T.T.V. Dhinakaran, O. Panneerselvam and V.K. Sasikala.
In his speech at the meeting, EPS said the AIADMK was fighting the polls on its “own individual strength” unlike the DMK, which is dependent on its alliance partners for a victory. “The NDA will win 210 seats. The AIADMK will form a government on its own,” Palaniswami asserted.
However, the resolutions and AIADMK’s assertiveness had apparently shook the national party, which had the leverage of influencing the AIADMK in forging a “mega” alliance. “Despite a broad alliance in 2011 and 2016, the DMK was defeated by Jayalalithaa as she had the people's support. The NDA too will win 2026 in a similar manner,” said Tamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagendran, while addressing a rally at Ranipet.
Nagendran was apparently summoned to Delhi to meet Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP working committee president Nitin Nabin and other senior leaders to discuss BJP's strategies for the upcoming 2026 elections. In the Parliament, Shah earlier said that after Bihar, the NDA will win West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Despite this statement from Amit Shah, the NDA in Tamil Nadu is yet to take off, as most its constituents had walked out of the alliance. While Dhinakaran and O. Panneerselvam are left in the lurch, as they are not willing to accept Palaniswami as the chief minister candidate, the PMK is hit by internal squabbles. Vijayakanth’s DMDK has chosen to join an alliance that will offer more number of seats and promise a Rajya Sabha seat. Premalatha Vijayakanth has said a decision will be taken in January 2026. She is also upset with the AIADMK as Palaniswami did not allot a Rajya Sabha seat that was earlier ‘promised’ in 2024.
As the NDA struggles to find a cohesion, there are also attempts to rope in actor Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam into the alliance. But TVK office bearers have denied this every now and then, saying that it will not be part of an alliance with the BJP. On the other hand, the BJP wants to ensure that the AIADMK doesn’t walk out of the NDA and forge an alliance with the TVK, which will only spoil the prospects of the BJP retaining even its single digit MLAs in the assembly. Palaniswami’s attempts to rope in TVK after the Karur stampede had apparently faltered.
However Piyush Goyal is all set to visit Tamil Nadu on December 22 to hold talks with the senior BJP leaders and also with the AIADMK leadership. It may be recalled that it was Piyush Goyal who stitched a formidable alliance in 2021 making NDA sit in the opposition with over 70 MLAs.
