AIADMK and BJP should part ways for mutual good

“Be as nice as possible, only as nasty as necessary.” That – my favourite line by USA Today founder-editor Al Neuharth – should have served as a golden advice for the AIADMK and the BJP in Tamil Nadu. The electoral partners are now being as nasty as possible with each other. The latest bout started with BJP state president K Annamalai giving an anecdote about DMK founder C N Annadurai allegedly apologising to Forward Bloc leader U Muthuramlinga Thevar who took offence to a speech by Anna in June 1956 “insulting Hinduism”.

Before the DMK could react, the AIADMK hit squad comprising D Jayakumar, C Ve Shanmugam and Sellur Raju were at Annamalai’s throat. “It’s the BJP that needs us, not the other way around,” said Shanmugam. Not one to be cowed down, Annamalai said the BJP can be nobody’s slave. The next day, Jayakumar announced that “as of now” the AIADMK is not in an alliance with the BJP. Annamalai tried some damage control saying all is fine between the two parties, but when asked if AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami would be the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate in the 2026 assembly election, the BJP president said he cannot assure that.

The slanging match between the allies has been on for so long that the only way to put an end to it is, well, by putting an end to it. The AIADMK and the BJP should part ways. This will not only save the two parties from being suffocated in each other’s company, it will also let them explore their full potential to grow – if they have the potential, that is.

Since the time of J Jayalalithaa, the biggest lie propagated by these parties – and a section of the media – whenever they came together is that they are “natural allies”. They never were. Under Jayalalithaa, the BJP had to eat humble pie. After her, the saffron brigade has been trying to be more assertive with its uneasy partner, but to no avail. While the AIADMK leadership plays the obedient friend in front of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, EPS has actively encouraged his lieutenants to put the BJP state leaders in their place.

While the regional party can afford to play the pinch-and-praise double game, Annamalai has an unenvious job being the sole spokesperson for his party when it comes to alliance trouble (H Raja & Co have been conspicuously silent). Annamalai has to carry out the orders of his leaders to keep the ally in good humour, but he also has to preserve his self-respect in the face of insults. Now he has to convince his national leadership to look beyond the 2024 general elections and prepare the BJP for long-term growth.

This may be easy if the BJP leadership is confident of winning a comfortable majority of seats in the northern states, so it can forgo the couple of seats it hopes to win in Tamil Nadu in the company of the AIADMK. However, if the desperation the BJP has been showing at the consolidation of the INDIA bloc is any indication, it’s too early to take a call. Annamalai should know better that his party has to oppose both the DMK and the AIADMK if it were to give itself a chance to grow organically, however little that would be for many years.

For the AIADMK, too, the saffron baggage will not be a pleasant thing to carry into 2026. The party’s internal assessments show that its image of being the BJP’s ‘B Team did considerable damage in 2021. AIADMK leaders may have other concerns and considerations when the BJP rules the roost, but when your ally puts a gun to your head, it’s better to bite the bullet. On Sunday, Jayakumar reiterated that the AIADMK stands by its ‘no alliance’

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