2019 Elections: BJP Wants a Pre-Poll Ally in Tamil Nadu by October

The Bharatiya Janata Party will announce an alliance with a regional party in Tamil Nadu by October for the 2019 national election, a party leader has said, citing BJP president Amit Shah. According to the leader, Shah told the state unit during a visit in July that a tie-up would be formalised by October.

Talks and the DMK

Another leader said the party had been in contact with both of M Karunanidhi’s sons, M K Stalin and M K Alagiri. Shah was expected to attend the memorial meeting for Karunanidhi in Chennai. Since Karunanidhi’s death, Alagiri has claimed to have the backing of the leader’s true followers, challenging Stalin, whom Karunanidhi had named as his successor. There have also been earlier reports of warming ties between the DMK and the BJP.

The DMK was part of the NDA government in 1999 but left in 2003 and joined hands with the Congress to sweep all 39 seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha election.

Why Tamil Nadu matters

The BJP won only one seat in Tamil Nadu in 2014. Since the deaths of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, both the AIADMK and the DMK have seen infighting. With the Telugu Desam Party leaving the alliance and the Shiv Sena campaigning against the BJP, Tamil Nadu has become more important to the party.

The BJP’s vote share in the 2016 state election fell compared with the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Milan Vaishnav, director and senior fellow of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the BJP had been trying to shape Tamil politics in its favour since Jayalalithaa’s death, but its leverage had declined. “Any potential Tamil ally will be able to drive a hard bargain,” he said.

What happened next

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election the BJP won 303 of the 543 seats nationally and Narendra Modi began a second term on 30 May 2019.

Originally published on 28 August 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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