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The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) faction led by Dr Anbumani Ramadoss met All India Anna Dravida Munnetra (AIADMK) general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday, January 7, and announced that his faction will ally with the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Assembly elections.
According to sources, besides the demand for more seats, Anbumani’s only condition was to keep his father Dr S Ramadoss away from the NDA alliance. Ramadoss and his son Anbumani had a bitter fallout over taking the reins of the PMK party, which eventually led to the split of the party into two factions.
Addressing a joint press meet, at Edappadi Palaniswami’s residence in Greenways road, Chennai, the ADMK leader said that the PMK has joined its alliance and more parties are likely to join them.
“The decision was made with the wishes of our both party cadres and functionaries. This is the winning alliance. We have joined to defeat the anti-people Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in upcoming 2026 Assembly elections and to create Tamil Nadu strongly and to provide people welfare centric schemes,” Palanaiswami said.
He added that seats with PMK are confirmed and will be announced later. Sources told TNM that the PMK has demanded 20 assembly seats and a Rajya Sabha seat. These details have not been made official yet.
The AIADMK general secretary further asserted that the NDA alliance will win the majority of 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
“The purpose of our alliance is to defeat the anti-people, corrupted, anti-women, anti-social justice, anti-working class DMK government. While I was engaged in Padayatra, I realised a huge anger in the DMK across urban and rural areas, and was waiting for elections,” Anbumani claimed.
Both the leaders declined to comment on the possibility of Ramadoss’ faction joining their alliance.
Following this development, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami is scheduled to visit New Delhi and is likely to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the inclusion of other alliance partners in NDA.