Tamil Nadu elections: EPS meets PM Modi at Trichy airport; first meet since AIADMK and BJP alliance renewed | India News

NEW DELHI: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) received Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Trichy airport on Saturday night. PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu to launch various projects. Sharing the photos on X, PM Modi said, “After the programme in Thoothukudi, landed in Tiruchirappalli to a warm welcome by various dignitaries. Looking forward to tomorrow’s programme at Gangaikonda Cholapuram.“In the post, one picture sparked the question whether AIADMK and BJP is going to make alliance or not. EPS and PM Modi is meeting for the first time since the AIADMK and BJP renewed their alliance.The meeting came amid the war of words between the allies ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Earlier, EPS ruled out a coalition government with the BJP and said, “Our alliance would achieve a grand success in 2026. AIADMK will be victorious and will form a govt on its own.”This statement contradicts with Amit Shah’s interview where he said that that the NDA led by the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu will form a coalition government.Recently, EPS reaffirmed that his party will form a government with an absolute majority in the upcoming assembly elections. “Stalin claims that the DMK alliance will win 200 seats. Instead, the AIADMK alliance will win in 210 seats. AIADMK will form the govt with an absolute majority,” he said.The ruling DMK has attacked the AIADMK for reviving ties with the BJP, saying that the saffron party would swallow EPS. EPS fired back and replied, “Stalin says BJP will swallow Palaniswami. Is Palaniswami a worm to be swallowed by a fish? You are the one swallowing many of your allies. Congress has diminished, Communists have disappeared, and VCK is sticking around with DMK.”EPS also rebutted the criticism that AIADMK will be divided by BJP. “Stalin is warning us that AIADMK will break and that I should be careful. I would like to tell him that AIADMK will not break,” EPS said.The AIADMK and BJP came together for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. AIADMK walked out of the NDA in 2023, accusing Annamalai of insulting its leaders. After a bitter separation, the two parties came together on April 11.