CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the DMK’s assertion that it would win 200 seats in the 2026 assembly election would remain a daydream.
Instead, it would be the AIADMK alliance that would win 200 seats in the next assembly polls, bringing an end to the dynastic rule in the state, EPS said at AIADMK’s general council meeting in Chennai on Sunday.
“Stalin’s family member Kanimozhi says with conceit that DMK will win 200 seats. It would only be a daydream. The statement would be applicable only to AIADMK. The AIADMK led alliance will win 200 seats in the 2026 assembly elections,” EPS said.
EPS said that he would tour all the 234 constituencies from the end of Jan next year to ensure the party is strengthened ahead of 2026 polls.
At the meeting where resolutions were passed against the tungsten mining project in Madurai, EPS also took a dig at BJP, stating the party’s vote share has reduced in 2024 election compared to 2014 when the saffron party fought polls alone without allying with DMK or AIADMK. “They say the BJP is emerging strong; this is wrong,” said EPS.
“In 2014, BJP contested in eight constituencies and got a vote share of 5.56%. It should have become 13.15% in the 2024 elections, as the BJP contested 20 seats, but they got only 11.24%, which was 1.9% less,” he said. As an alliance too BJP’s front got less votes in 2024 compared to 2014.
EPS said AIADMK lost by less than 2 lakh votes in the last assembly.
“If we got just 1.25 lakhs more, we would be the ruling party. The margin by which we lost in 34 constituencies was very small,” he said.
EPS said alliances were formed for elections, but ideology was something that could never be compromised and emphasised that the AIADMK was a party with a strong ideology.
AIADMK GC passes 16 resolutions
The AIADMK condemned the DMK govt for failing to prevent the tungsten mining project in Melur in Madurai.
In a resolution passed at the party’s general council meeting in Chennai on Sunday, AIADMK urged the Centre not to implement the project. A resolution urged the Centre to release Tamil Nadu’s share of funds without bias, while another wanted the Centre to declare Thirukkural as a national book.
Sixteen resolutions were passed at the general council, presided over by the AIADMK Presidium Chairman Tamil Magan Hussain, and attended by 2,523 members and executive committee members.
Condemning DMK govt for alleged poor cyclone precautionary measures, resolutions were passed demanding the state govt conduct caste survey. The AIADMK also condemned DMK for discontinuing the Kudimaramathu scheme.
The council condoled the death of Congress MLA EVKS Elangovan, industrialist Ratan Tata, CPM General Secretary Sitharam Yechury, actor Delhi Ganesh, and former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna.
