Amid talks of NDA regrouping in TN, Modi to visit Rameswaram

Amid possibilities of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regrouping for the 2026 Tamil Nadu elections, PM Narendra Modi will be in the state’s historic town of Rameswaram on Ram Navami on April 6.

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The Prime Minister will travel from Sri Lanka to Rameswaram to inaugurate the Pamban Bridge, India’s first vertical sea bridge. Besides a message of regional connectivity, the PM’s halt in Rameswaram will send a political signal that the BJP was commencing early preparations in the tough battleground state. He will address a public gathering and pray at the famous Sri Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy Temple.

Notably, AIADMK chief E Palaniswami’s Tuesday night meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah is being seen as a signal that the Dravidian party may return to the NDA fold for 2026 elections.

The meeting stemmed from realpolitik, which saw the AIADMK being wiped clean with zero seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while its Dravidian rival DMK bagged all 22 seats that it contested among 39 in the state.

Fresh political overtures by the AIADMK chief come at a time when the BJP is beginning early preparations for the poll. Top sources said PM Modi will be in Tamil Nadu on Ram Navami.

For the AIADMK, which had quit the NDA in September 2023, citing aggression of state BJP chief K Annamalai, the return to NDA appears a viable option after its 2024 LS poll rout. While the BJP increased its vote share to double digit for the first time in the state. BJP leaders cite a 11.24% vote share in the 2024 poll as a major gain, given the absence of an alliance with any Dravidian major.

“We achieved this vote share in alliance with smaller partners, whereas the Congress, in alliance with the DMK could bag only 10.67%. Our presence is growing,” said a senior BJP leader pointing to the PM’s persistent pro-Tamil pitch in the form of Kashi-Tamil Sangaman and much more.

So far as seat numbers go, the BJP contested 23 seats in 2024 and did not win any. The party, however, continues to believe that its expanded vote share was a sign of its expanding ground. In 2019 LS polls, the BJP had contested five seats and got 3.6 % votes whereas in 2024, its candidates finished second, pushing AIADMK to the third spot in many seats.

Some of these seats included the Nilgiris, Chennai South, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari. In Vellore, BJP ally AC Shanmugham of the PMK finished second, ahead of the AIADMK which for the first time since its inception in 1972 lost deposits in seven of the 34 seats it contested. The BJP lost deposits in 11 of the 23 seats.

Earlier, the AIADMK and the BJP had partnered for 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly polls. While the DMK had won one seat in 2019, NDA bloc took two, including Kanyakumari that the BJP bagged. In the 2021 state polls, the DMK-led bloc emerged victorious with 159 seats (the DMK alone won 133). The AIADMK-led alliance won 75 segments, with AIADMK securing 66 seats.