Chennai: With just four months to go for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, political alignments outside DMK-led and AIADMK-led camps are beginning to show early signs of consolidation. Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran and former chief minister O. Panneerselvam signalled openness to joining actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) alliance.
Former AIADMK Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan, who is now the organisation secretary of TVK, confirmed on 25 December that talks are underway with both OPS and Dhinakaran.
Dhinakaran, who heads the AMMK, has in recent weeks spoken at length about the need for an alternative political front that goes beyond traditional Dravidian binaries.
Although he stopped short of naming TVK directly, he has repeatedly said “new political forces with public backing” must be supported to challenge the two Dravidian parties.
Sources close to Dhinakaran told ThePrint that it was a clear reference to Vijay’s TVK.
“We cannot join hands with the NDA alliance as long as Edappadi K. Palaniswami is the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. Since our politics have always been against the DMK, we also cannot join hands with DMK. Hence, the only option for us is to join the TVK, but, we are in no-hurry to announce it since we have to consider the winnability factor and how we can increase our bargain in the alliance,” the source added.
OPS, too, has sharpened his critique of the AIADMK leadership and NDA after he walked out of the BJP-led alliance this year.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai on 24 December, he said that he was open to working with like-minded democratic forces to “protect Tamil Nadu’s interests”.
Political analysts in the state ThePrint spoke to said OPS’s repeated stress on unity among anti-DMK forces and respect for new political entrants has been seen as a signal towards Dhinakaran.
Functionaries of OPS’s AIADMK Workers’ Rights Retrieval Kazhagam too said it would be easy for them to convince their followers if they join hands with Dhinakaran.
“The probability of survival in politics is high if we join hands with DMK. But, it might be difficult for us to convince our supporters since they were all hard-core AIADMK supporters for long time and if we join hands with DMK, we might be tagged as traitors of Thalaivar (former chief Minister MG Ramachandran) and Amma (former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa) principles,” a functionary of OPS’s outfit told ThePrint.
Senior TVK leader Sengottaiyan has also publicly acknowledged that several political leaders and groups, including those who have fallen out with their parent parties, are in touch with TVK. He has maintained that the party’s doors are open to discussions, provided any alliance is built on TVK’s leadership.
Political observers said the potential coming together of TVK, AMMK and the OPS faction would be less about immediate seat-sharing and more about creating a symbolic third pole in Tamil Nadu politics.
“For Dhinakaran and OPS, aligning with TVK offers relevance and a pathway back into the mainstream after being marginalised within the AIADMK. For TVK, the association could provide organisational depth, experienced campaigners and pockets of vote transferability, particularly in southern and delta districts, where T.T.V. Dhinakaran and Panneerselvam has strong Thevar caste vote base,” Political observer Sathiyamoorthy told ThePrint.
(Edited by Shashank Kishan)
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