"No Conditions, Demands": Amit Shah As AIADMK Back In BJP-Led Alliance

Renewal of the BJP-AIADMK alliance in Tamil Nadu does not come with conditions or strings attached, from either side, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Friday evening, as he and senior leaders from the Tamil party sat down together in Chennai announced plans to contest next year's election.

"AIADMK had no conditions and demands (and) we will not interfere in the internal matters of the AIADMK... this alliance is going to be beneficial for both NDA and AIADMK," the BJP leader said.

"Let us also do work. You (the press) don't worry... Leave some for us to handle," Mr Shah, who met AIADMK leaders in Delhi last month, as a precursor to today's announcement, chuckled.

Mr Shah also called the tie-up with the AIADMK a "natural partnership" and said the Tamil party's leader, Edappadi K Palaniswami, the former Chief Minister would be the face.

#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: On NDA alliance for Tamil Nadu Vidhan Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, "AIADMK has no conditions and demands... We will have no interference in the internal matters of the AIADMK... This alliance is going to be beneficial to both… pic.twitter.com/9sUeKCkI62

— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2025

Confirmation of the BJP-AIADMK tie-up followed news the national party had replaced K Annamalai as the President of its state unit; the BJP chose his deputy - Nainar Nagendran, a three-time MLA from Tirunelveli and, perhaps more significantly, a former AIADMK member.

READ | Nainar Nagendran To Be New Tamil Nadu BJP Chief, Focus On 2026 Poll

And Mr Shah's message on that front - that K Annamalai made "commendable" contributions to the party's fortune in the southern state, one in which it has historically always been rejected - seemed to underline the state leadership switch was made with one eye on the AIADMK.

But why?

Rewind to September 2023, and the AIADMK had just walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, then months before the national election. The Tamil party had been upset by what it said was Mr Annamalai constantly defaming its present and past leaders.

READ | "Happiest Moment": AIADMK Officially Ends Alliance With BJP, Exits NDA

Mr Annamalai had made critical remarks about iconic AIADMK figures, including former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, with whom the BJP had allied, and won big, in the 1998 Lok Sabha poll.

A furious AIADMK demanded his resignation but the BJP, then, refused to oblige.

Mr Annamalai's comments then led to speculation the BJP was trying to engineer a split from the AIADMK and carve out its space - something it has never really managed - in Tamil Nadu.

That didn't turn out very well; neither the AIADMK (and its allies) nor the BJP (and the few Tamil parties it managed to win over) won a seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The BJP's change of heart, many believe, stems from a widely-held perspective that the party doesn't really have traction with Tamil Nadu voters, at least enough (right now) to genuinely challenge the ruling DMK and its allies, which includes the Congress.

The BJP, though, will also know it has lost - overwhelmingly - each of the last three major elections in Tamil Nadu that it contested with the AIADMK as an ally.

In the 2021 state election, the AIADMK won just 75 seats - down from 136 five years earlier - and was ousted by the DMK-Congress combine. In the 2019 general election the AIADMK was similarly routed - going from 37 seats to just one - while the DMK went from 0 to 39.

And in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the DMK and its allies won all 39 seats.