Edappadi Palaniswami clears BJP hurdle, but AIADMK’s road to glory challenging

Palaniswami has to steer the party to win a sizeable number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls in a three-corner contest since under his leadership, the AIADMK had faced defeats in the 2019 elections.

CHENNAI:  By snapping ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP for long-term goals, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has established himself as a firm leader.

But, at least for the next few years, he will be facing many challenges like forging a strong alliance to face the Lok Sabha polls as already claimed, convincing the minority communities, confronting ‘unfriendly’ governments at the state and centre, winning a sizeable number of seats in the LS polls and keeping the AIADMK cadre’s morale intact.  

Talking to TNIE, Samas, editor of Arunchol.com, said AIADMK leaders have been claiming that the party would be forging a mega alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. But the ground reality is not conducive to that since the DMK-led alliance is strong and intact. On the other hand, most of the present NDA allies in Tamil Nadu are likely to join hands with the alliance to be formed by the BJP.

Secondly, Palaniswami has to steer the party to win a sizeable number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls in a three-corner contest since under his leadership, the AIADMK had already faced defeats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, local body elections and the 2021 Assembly elections. 

Thirdly, at least for the next few years, Palaniswami has to face ‘unfriendly governments’ at the state and centre while keeping the morale of the party intact.  

Also, the AIADMK has to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections without a PM candidate. Until a few days ago, top leaders of the AIADMK were projecting Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister.  

However, a senior leader of the AIADMK, on condition of anonymity, told TNIE that a political party does not necessarily fight the LS polls by proposing a PM candidate or solely on the basis of national issues because local issues would play an important role in any election. 

For example, if the DMK wins a good number of seats, it would definitely claim that this is the certificate from the people for their good governance.

Similarly, if the AIADMK wins a sizeable number of seats by projecting the issues against the DMK government, it would help the party move towards the 2026 Assembly elections comfortably. 

Senior journalist P Sigamani is of the view that just by coming out of the BJP alliance, the AIADMK cannot shed its image as the saffron party’s ally which supported many moves that were considered anti-minorities in the past few years. 

The AIADMK has to work hard to convince minority communities since the party had gone against the wish of its leader J Jayalalithaa not to align with the BJP ‘forever.’ It cannot fight LS polls with a national perspective this time as it has come out of the BJP alliance. Palaniswami has stoutly supported the ‘one nation one poll’ idea of the BJP though it is considered an anti-democratic move. Now, he has to spell out his stance on issues like this.