Chennai: With simply 4 months to go for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Meeting elections, political alignments exterior DMK-led and AIADMK-led camps are starting to point out early indicators of consolidation. Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief T.T.V. Dhinakaran and former chief minister O. Panneerselvam signalled openness to becoming a member of actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) alliance.

Former AIADMK Minister Ok.A. Sengottaiyan, who’s now the organisation secretary of TVK, confirmed on 25 December that talks are underway with each OPS and Dhinakaran.

Though he stopped in need of naming TVK straight, he has repeatedly mentioned “new political forces with public backing” should be supported to problem the 2 Dravidian events.

Sources near Dhinakaran instructed ThePrint that it was a transparent reference to Vijay’s TVK.

“We can’t be a part of palms with the NDA alliance so long as Edappadi Ok. Palaniswami is the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. Since our politics have all the time been in opposition to the DMK, we additionally can’t be a part of palms with DMK. Therefore, the one choice for us is to hitch the TVK, however, we’re in no-hurry to announce it since we now have to contemplate the winnability issue and the way we are able to improve our discount within the alliance,” the supply added.

OPS, too, has sharpened his critique of the AIADMK management and NDA after he walked out of the BJP-led alliance this yr.

Chatting with reporters in Chennai on 24 December, he mentioned that he was open to working with like-minded democratic forces to “shield Tamil Nadu’s pursuits”.

Political analysts within the state ThePrint spoke to mentioned OPS’s repeated stress on unity amongst anti-DMK forces and respect for brand spanking new political entrants has been seen as a sign in direction of Dhinakaran.

Functionaries of OPS’s AIADMK Staff’ Rights Retrieval Kazhagam too mentioned it will be straightforward for them to persuade their followers in the event that they be a part of palms with Dhinakaran.

“The likelihood of survival in politics is excessive if we be a part of palms with DMK. However, it may be tough for us to persuade our supporters since they had been all hard-core AIADMK supporters for very long time and if we be a part of palms with DMK, we may be tagged as traitors of Thalaivar (former chief Minister MG Ramachandran) and Amma (former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa) ideas,” a functionary of OPS’s outfit instructed ThePrint.

Senior TVK chief Sengottaiyan has additionally publicly acknowledged that a number of political leaders and teams, together with those that have fallen out with their guardian events, are in contact with TVK. He has maintained that the occasion’s doorways are open to discussions, supplied any alliance is constructed on TVK’s management.

Political observers mentioned the potential coming collectively of TVK, AMMK and the OPS faction can be much less about quick seat-sharing and extra about making a symbolic third pole in Tamil Nadu politics.

“For Dhinakaran and OPS, aligning with TVK affords relevance and a pathway again into the mainstream after being marginalised inside the AIADMK. For TVK, the affiliation may present organisational depth, skilled campaigners and pockets of vote transferability, notably in southern and delta districts, the place T.T.V. Dhinakaran and Panneerselvam has sturdy Thevar caste vote base,” Political observer Sathiyamoorthy instructed ThePrint.

(Edited by Shashank Kishan)

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