Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP President Nainar Nagenthran has said the question of allotting seats to allies Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam led by TTV Dhinakaran and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) for the 2026 Assembly polls, would be addressed together by the leadership of the AIADMK and his party.
Asked if the BJP would come forward to allot seats to AMMK led by Dhinakaran (TTV) and Panneerselvam, out of the seats to be allotted by the AIADMK to his party, Nagenthran told PTI, “Only now, the alliance (with AIADMK) has been formed.” “Seat sharing will be decided by our Parliamentary Board, our high command. The AIADMK may also set up a panel in this regard and our Parliamentary Board will deliberate.”
When it was pointed out that his predecessor K Annamalai had, sometime before the AIADMK rejoined the NDA, declared that allies like Dhinakaran who had firmly stood behind the party could not be “let down,” Nagenthran said: “Sure, what he had said was true. Already, those who were part of the NDA will continue to be part of the alliance.”
Asked if the BJP will accommodate such allies by sharing seats from its kitty with them, Nagenthran, referring to Annamalai’s remark said that such allies were with the BJP, and “our NDA (referring to BJP brass) leadership and the AIADMK leadership together will decide,” the matter.
Both Dhinakaran and Panneerselvam (OPS) had been in the past, on different occasions, expelled from the AIADMK and the party’s General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has repeatedly asserted that the two leaders, besides VK Sasikala, would not be re-inducted.
