Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Sunday, May 8, asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would form the government in Tamil Nadu in 2026. He further alleged that the corruption under the Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government had adversely affected the people of the state.
Speaking at a state core committee meeting of the Tamil Nadu BJP in Madurai, Shah declared that it would not be the BJP but the people of Tamil Nadu who would defeat the DMK. Citing the BJP’s recent victories in the 2025 legislative assembly elections in Delhi, Maharashtra, and Odisha, he expressed confidence that similar outcomes would follow in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in 2026.
The Home Minister noted that the Union government had allocated Rs 6.80 lakh crore to Tamil Nadu over the past ten years, yet the DMK government continued to claim that the state was being neglected by the Union. He further alleged that nutrition kits worth Rs 450 crore, sent by the Union government, had been handed over to a private company by the state government.
He also accused the DMK of being embroiled in multiple scandals, including the TASMAC scam and a Rs 4,600 crore mining scam, which he claimed had severely impacted the people. Shah described the DMK administration as lawless, citing frequent crimes against women as evidence of deteriorating governance in the state.
Responding to Chief Minister MK Stalin’s claim that 90% of his party’s poll promises had been fulfilled, Shah claimed that not even 10% had been implemented.
Turning to national security, the Home Minister referred to recent military action against Pakistan, stating that the Modi government had instilled a sense of confidence in the people; something, he said, previous governments had failed to do. He highlighted India’s air defence capabilities, pointing to the government's response to the attacks in Uri, Pulwama, and most recently, Pahalgam.
The meeting was attended by key BJP leaders, including current Tamil Nadu BJP president Nainar Nagendran, former state president K Annamalai, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs L Murugan, and senior leader Pon Radhakrishnan.
The BJP is expected to contest the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in alliance with the AIADMK. The DMK, meanwhile, has already launched its campaign with a general council meeting in Madurai on June 1.