CM Stalin’s outreach to sulking NDA members raises buzz

CHENNAI: In engaging expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and ambitious DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakant, Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin has hit two birds with one stone: optimise the viability of his Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) and expose the extent of chaos in the opposition NDA (National Democratic Alliance) in the State ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

A shadow of scepticism about the probable arrival of new parties or even retention of sulking allies has been cast over the BJP-AIADMK front ever since the meetings, puncturing the political grandstanding of the saffron party, which has been claiming that newer parties, including a party from the SPA, would gravitate towards Kamalalayam.

Also, the rendezvous between Stalin and the erstwhile NDA constituents has taken the wind out of the sails of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who has been making a show of it in his ongoing rally that he would put together a grand alliance to trump Stalin’s DMK.

This has reshaped the political discourse of the State, relatively obscuring EPS’s rally in the State’s political mainstream since last weekend. Lieutenants of EPS going ballistic over OPS’s courteous visit to Stalin’s residence, evidently, to discredit the claimant to the AIADMK throne, have also helped pull the wind out of their boss Palaniswami’s sails.

Concurrently, the DMK has successfully created a perception that its Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) could be one of the options for disgruntled NDA constituents, either muscled out or not adequately appreciated in the AIADMK fold. A DMK senior, unwilling to be quoted, conceded privately that the political narrative revolved around whether OPS or Premalatha might join ‘our’ alliance since the day the meetings happened. “As much as the AIADMK and BJP ‘losing’ their loyalists and friends, people are now talking about even our sworn enemies warming up to us. That we have managed even to get people to speculate on the possibility of them joining us is a victory for us. We are electorally more viable. That is the message. Whereas, our enemies, the BJP and AIADMK, who claimed to lure more allies, are losing their friends,” said the DMK senior.

Regardless of the outcome of such meetings, especially OPS, who, in all likelihood, could partner with actor Vijay’s TVK or contest on his own more than hobnobbing with sworn enemy, DMK at the moment, should he formalise his divorce with the NDA for 2026, yet his visit has made naysayers in the in the BJP rethink.

It is not uncommon to find leaders of SPA parties speculating that their alliance would stand to benefit whatsoever. One cannot ignore their confidence, considering the political hypothesis at play. If OPS joins Vijay, he could split anti-incumbency votes that would otherwise go to AIADMK. If OPS contests alone, it might still eat into EPS’s votes, however little or large.

OPS joining the DMK-led SPA could be the least of the possibilities given the DMK-hating nature of his voter base. Even if none of this happens, and the BJP somehow manages to convince OPS to return to their alliance, the displeasure audibly communicated has exposed the fissures in the NDA, which is good optics for the DMK.