Why AIADMK chief EPS has ruled out ‘power-sharing with BJP’

“At the national level, the alliance will be headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and in Tamil Nadu, it will be headed by me. Can’t you understand that? What is there to be worried about? We have forged the alliance because we want to return to power. It is our wish to have an alliance with others,” said the former CM.

Then came a more calculated dismissal of criticism from the DMK. “The DMK has no competence to advise our party on who we should align with,” he said.

Though not entirely new, the remarks struck a louder and more combative tone, especially amid murmurs within the AIADMK after Shah’s visit last Friday. “He (Shah) had only stated that the AIADMK-BJP alliance would form the next government,” EPS said, brushing aside speculation of a deeper friction.

Senior AIADMK leaders told The Indian Express that significant internal feedback was behind the clarification. “There were several calls and feedback messages from our leaders and well-wishers who believed Shah’s speech hinted at some form of power-sharing. That’s why he had to say it clearly on Wednesday,” said one leader.

While the BJP has officially not responded to EPS’s comments, party insiders said it was not a surprise and no offence was taken. “Tamil Nadu has never had a coalition government with power-sharing. EPS’s clarification was expected,” said a senior BJP leader. A BJP leader said the alliance was “tactical and arithmetic, not emotional”.

Both parties are leaning on pure electoral math. The BJP believes that with AIADMK, it will have better footing in urban seats such as Coimbatore, T Nagar in Chennai, and Kanyakumari. The AIADMK expects the BJP’s support to boost its performance in southern and western Tamil Nadu. The logic is simple: vote transferability in select constituencies and a common front against the DMK.

For now, EPS has drawn the line. He wants no ambiguity about who leads the show in Tamil Nadu. But beneath the surface, some in the party believe this alliance is not built to last. Even as the alliance takes its first steps, fears of a slow undoing remain.

“Only arithmetically it (alliance) works, the chemistry is still broken,” said a senior AIADMK leader and a former minister in the EPS-led Cabinet. “Everyone knows this is not a natural alliance. Whether we win or not, it won’t survive much longer. We all fear that the Shah-EPS meeting is the unavoidable beginning of the fall of the AIADMK. In our own meetings and feedback sent to the leadership, many within the party have drawn comparisons with other regional allies of the BJP: Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, and the JD(S) in Karnataka. We all feel the fate of AIADMK is going to be the same in 10 years. The BJP won’t let us breathe.”

EPS remained publicly defiant on Wednesday. “We have been making efforts to bring together all those keen on dislodging the ruling DMK from power by contesting the assembly election together. As the first move towards this direction, the BJP has come to us,” he said, adding that more parties were expected to join the front.