Palaniswami did not build a strong alliance to garner anti-incumbency votes, says PT chief K. Krishnasamy

The fractured mandate in the recent State Assembly election could have been avoided had the AIADMK, led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami, been accommodative towards its alliance partners and built a strong coalition that could pull in the anti-incumbency votes, Puthiya Tamilagam (PT) founder K. Krishnasamy said on Friday.

Speaking at The Hindu office in Chennai, Dr. Krishnasamy said that though the DMK had delivered on its promises such as the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam, people felt that it had failed to provide good governance – lack of law and order, caste killing, safety for businesses and women, good roads, adequate number of buses, proliferation of drugs - resulting in severe anti-incumbency.

“More than the economic schemes, people felt the DMK government did not deliver good governance. The anti-incumbency should have helped the AIADMK, but they did not build an alliance good enough to garner those votes. EPS and the BJP made mistakes. People wanted good governance. The alliance failed to build a narrative as to why they are the viable alternative while EPS kept sending the alliance partners out. So, people preferred the third option. How long can people put up with intra-party issues (between OPS and EPS) of the AIADMK?” he said.

Dr. Krishnasamy said other political parties, over the last few decades, had been preparing the people for an alternative to the two major Dravidian parties — the DMK and the AIADMK — but it was Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s TVK which managed to channel that sentiment.

“Many political parties have tried to form a third front to defeat both these parties — communists tried it in the 1996 Lok Sabha election, Moopanar (G.K. Moopanar’s Tamil Maanila Congress) and Puthiya Tamilagam in 1999, other parties in 2016, as well as Vijayakant, Sarath Kumar, and Bhagyaraj, all tried in their own way. In Tamil Nadu, the sentiment (among people) for an alternative to these two Dravidian parties has been simmering. The TVK, led by Vijay, gave hope and shape to this expectation and channelled this sentiment. PT has consistently stated that there should not be a “one-party” rule — that both the DMK and the AIADMK must change and include other parties in the Cabinet. Times have changed. Vijay identified this sentiment and announced it in the party’s first public rally,” he said.

Dr. Krishnasamy further said that though he got a sense that no party would win a majority in the 2026 Assembly election, he believed that the DMK would emerge as the single largest party. “I said so in one of the press meets in Coimbatore. I believed that, since the DMK was the ruling party and had a settled alliance, they would win more seats (than the other parties). Had the Dravidian parties promised their allies a share in power, the results would have been much different,” he said.

He added that the established Dravidian parties, and the DMK in particular, should have sensed the shifts happening on the ground. “The established political parties did not expect this result, but they should have sensed it... because they had all the modern systems to sense it. But, they continued with old traditions.”

Asked whether the inclusion of eight Scheduled Caste MLAs in the Cabinet could be seen as a historic moment for social justice in the State, Dr. Krishnasamy said the development could only be seen as a positive one, considering that the Scheduled Castes formed 20% of Tamil Nadu’s population.

“One cannot claim to implement social justice simply by accommodating them (SCs) in the Ministry. It is also not possible for eight Ministers alone to safeguard social justice in Tamil Nadu. The State government’s ideology is important... On the other hand, a single Minister can ensure social justice in Tamil Nadu... a State government could ensure social justice without such representation. At one point in time, there were only nine Ministers in Perarignar Anna’s (C.N. Annadurai) Cabinet. But those who were a part of the Cabinet such as Sathyavani Muthu were the real voice (of the SCs) who took up the cause. Today, when there are 35 Ministers, the expectation is that 20% of the population must be adequately represented. Be that as it may be, we have to see this positively.”