Amit Shah says BJP will build an alliance to form government in Tamil Nadu

BJP president Amit Shah said on Monday that his party would put together an alliance in Tamil Nadu that would go on to form the state government and root out corruption. He was addressing the party’s polling booth in-charges at a resort near Chennai, on the East Coast Road.

Alliance and booth plans

Shah said the alliance would be announced at the appropriate time before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Whichever parties the BJP teamed up with, he said, it would ensure a government free of corruption, maintain law and order and focus on development, while respecting existing NDA partners in the state and bringing in new ones.

Before any alliance is formed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to speak at a BJP rally in the state in October, where 1.25 lakh booth-level workers are expected. Shah gave the state unit an end-of-September deadline to name representatives for all of the state’s roughly 66,000 polling booths.

Attack on rivals

Without naming the ruling AIADMK, Shah said he felt saddened when he thought about Tamil Nadu, claiming it was now among the states worst affected by corruption and that only a BJP government could end electoral malpractice there. He also accused the DMK, a former UPA member, of not doing enough to obtain what the state was owed under the 13th Finance Commission.

Rejecting the charge that his party disregards Tamil pride, Shah said a government with the BJP as a partner would help the Tamil language travel beyond the state. He claimed that only the Modi government had ensured railway tickets were also printed in Tamil.

What happened next

In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, the DMK won 133 seats and the AIADMK 66, and M. K. Stalin was Chief Minister after the election.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Originally published on 10 July 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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