Piyush Goyal and Edappadi K Palaniswami
CHENNAI: In a subtle play of words on Thursday, AIADMK and BJP agreed to disagree on the constitution of the govt they dream to form after the ensuing assembly election in Tamil Nadu.While Union minister Piyush Goyal said it would be the “AIADMK-led NDA will come to power,” indicating a coalition govt, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami spoke of an “AIADMK govt”. “AIADMK-led NDA will come to power in April and transform the future of Tamil Nadu,” said Goyal after holding talks with the AIADMK leadership in Chennai ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on Friday.
Sharing the dais at the press meet, EPS avoided referring to NDA and said, “With the honourable Prime Minister leading the govt at Centre and AIADMK forming the govt in Tamil Nadu, the state will achieve very big development.” The semantics of the AIADMK-BJP combine has been at play ever since the two parties came back together in April 2025 after a one-and-a-half-year separation.While BJP leaders including Union home minister Amit Shah called the alliance NDA, EPS and his colleagues have been calling it AIADMK-led alliance. While speaking in Madurai in June 2025, Shah said, “In the 2026 assembly election, BJP-AIADMK will form an NDA govt,” and AIADMK opposed it, stating that TN has no history of a coalition govt.AMMK general secretary T T V Dhinakaran, who rejoined the NDA on Wednesday, also hinted at power sharing, saying NDA would form the next govt, of which he would be part of. BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran, however, said they were not pressing for a share in power. “Because Congress raises the demand for power with DMK, we need not follow suit. We are not pressing for a coalition govt with AIADMK,” he told reporters in Madurai.On Thursday, both Goyal and EPS accused DMK of practising corruption and poor governance. “Infrastructure is crumbling, and misgovernance, corruption and anti-development activities have become the symbols of DMK,” Goyal said. Alleging a loss of Rs 4 lakh crore due to corruption, EPS said the govt had failed in every department.
