This decision was made following the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026, which resulted in a fragmented mandate, with no party achieving the 118-seat majority in the 234-seat assembly.
AIADMK leader CV Shanmugam informed reporters in Chennai that if the alliance had materialized, the AIADMK would have effectively ceased to exist, as the party was founded in opposition to the DMK.
“We established this party in opposition to the DMK. For 53 years, our political stance has been against them. Given this background, a proposal to create an AIADMK government supported by the DMK was presented; however, most of our members rejected and opposed it,” Shanmugam stated, according to news agency ANI.
“If we were to ally with the DMK, the AIADMK would no longer exist. They could not accept such a possibility. We currently stand without any alliance, and our priority must be to rejuvenate and strengthen our own party. We ultimately decided to lend our support to the TVK, which emerged victorious,” he added.
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Shanmugam also mentioned that AIADMK leader and CM candidate Edappadi K Palaniswami (commonly referred to as EPS) had suggested he would become Chief Minister “with the backing of the DMK”. However, the majority of legislators “did not endorse this proposal”.
The party leader further revealed that SP Velumani has been elected as the Leader of the AIADMK legislative party, while G Hari has been designated as the Deputy Leader.
Velumani noted that the party leaders are “worried about the AIADMK”. “We have no intention of causing a split within the AIADMK,” he remarked, according to ANI.
During the Tamil Nadu Elections, actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) emerged as the single largest party with 108 seats upon its debut. The DMK secured 59 seats while the AIADMK obtained just 47. The Indian National Congress (INC) managed to secure only five seats.
Following the election results, Tamil Nadu faced uncertainty regarding government formation as Vijay’s TVK sought to establish a government, but Governor Arlekar instructed the leader to demonstrate majority support.
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After multiple meetings, the TVK successfully garnered support from Congress and other DMK-allied parties like the CPI, CPI(M), and VCK to form the government.
