Chennai — In Tamil Nadu’s political theatre, a familiar drama is playing out again. The AIADMKBJP alliance, once seen as carefully balanced, is now wobbling under the weight of suspicion, bruised egos, and Delhi’s long reach.
The latest spark came from veteran leader K. A. Sengottaiyan. A once-loyal foot soldier of Jayalalithaa, he suddenly demanded that expelled leaders be brought back into the AIADMK fold. Then, instead of returning quietly to his district, he landed in Delhi, meeting Union ministers Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman. To many inside the AIADMK, this wasn’t coincidence it was a signal.
EPS, never one to hesitate when his authority is challenged, swiftly stripped Sengottaiyan of his posts. But his move only deepened the unease. “This is a golden opportunity,” said one AIADMK insider. “If Delhi is meddling in our home, EPS should call it out and even walk out of the NDA. Why should we pay for Delhi’s experiments?”
Meanwhile, two familiar faces wait in the wings. O. Panneerselvam, once EPS’s rival and now out in the cold, has been told by BJP leaders to “wait until December” before floating his own outfit or attempting a comeback. And T. T. V. Dhinakaran, who leads the AMMK, has dangled a carrot of his own: he could rejoin the NDA, but only if EPS is not the chief ministerial candidate in 2026.
For the BJP’s Tamil Nadu cadre, the mood is one of confusion. Locally, they are told to respect AIADMK’s leadership. But the central leadership’s overtures to rebels tell another story. Even an RSS voice admitted, almost ruefully: “The plan has backfired. EPS is too strong inside the party right now.”
Behind these manoeuvres lies a simple calculation: without a united AIADMK, the BJP cannot hope to take on the DMK. But every attempt to engineer “unity” through OPS, Dhinakaran, or Sengottaiyan has only made EPS look stronger.
What makes this all the more striking is the contrast with China’s behaviour in Nepal, where youth-led protests shook the streets. There, Beijing said little, offering only cautious words about peace and stability. Silence, in that case, spoke volumes. Delhi, by contrast, is accused of speaking and acting too much inside Tamil Nadu’s politics.
As one former minister summed it up: “EPS is holding the party together with his own hands. If he bends, everything will break. If he holds firm, even Delhi will have to step back.
