Chennai: In the past week when the Tamil Nadu politics was abuzz with alliance talks and seat-sharing negotiations, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) was said to be vacillating between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
According to political analysts ThePrint spoke to, the party founder S. Ramadoss and a section of cadres were supporting AIADMK, while his son Anbumani Ramadoss was in favour of joining the BJP, as he was offered a seat in the Rajya Sabha during negotiations.
The suspense ended Monday night (18 March) when the Tamil Nadu-based party announced that it was joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in “national interest” in an election year.
Representing the Vanniyars, a community categorised as the Most Backward caste (MBC), the PMK is predominant in northern parts of Tamil Nadu. The party is contesting in 10 parliamentary constituencies, making it the national party’s biggest ally in Tamil Nadu.
On Friday, the party released its candidates for the 10 seats — Arakkonam (Advocate K. Balu), Dindigul (M. Thilagabala), Arani (A. Ganesh Kumar), Cuddalore (Thankar Bachan), Mayiladuthurai (M.K. Stalin), Kallakurichi (R. Devadoss Udayar), Dharmapuri (Arasangam), Salem (N. Annadurai), Villupuram (Murali Sankar), and Kancheepuram (Jothi Venkatesan) — all in north and western parts of the state.
Apart from bringing votes from the north, where the BJP is yet to make a grip, the partnership with the PMK will help the BJP to overcome its ‘urban image’ in the state, say political analysts. The partnership can also harm the AIADMK, the BJP’s former ally, which was trying to get the PMK into its fold.
However, the partnership may not yield electoral victory for the BJP as both parties’ vote banks are in different regions of the state, Tamil Nadu-based political analyst Sumanth C. Raman told ThePrint.
“Where the BJP has a vote bank, the PMK doesn’t have. They are not complimenting each other. In the north where the PMK is strong, the BJP doesn’t have any vote bank,” Raman added.
Also Read: Mandatory parental consent for under-21s to marry — PMK manifesto pledge to fight ‘staged love’
Show of strength in Salem
Shortly after finalising talks with the BJP on Tuesday, Ramadoss and his son travelled to Salem to take part in PM Modi’s campaign, an event attended by all the BJP allies in Tamil Nadu.
Apart from the PMK leaders, AMMK’s T.T.V Dinakaran, ousted AIADMK leader O. Panneerselvam, Tamil Manila Congress’s G.K. Vasan and AIASMK’s Sarath Kumar also shared the stage with the Prime Minister.
But the event gathered limelight for Modi’s special attention to the PMK founder. While greeting leaders, Modi had shown much enthusiasm to see Ramadoss. In the same stage, Modi was later seen hugging the PMK leader. Both parties also heaped praise on each other in the event.
“The PMK has been an ally with the BJP for the past 10 years. We made this decision for the welfare of the state. In Tamil Nadu, two parties were holding power for the past 57 years. But, the people want a change. We happily joined the NDA to fulfil that,” Anbumani said in Salem.
Praising Modi, he said 90 percent of ‘lobbyists’ in Delhi had vanished after PM Modi came to power.
“The PMK is a strong party, particularly in north Tamil Nadu. We feel that this alliance will fetch more votes to the NDA,” BJP spokesperson Narayan Thirupathy told ThePrint.
Another Tamil Nadu-based political analyst Maalan Narayanan said the PMK’s presence can help the BJP to take its campaign to the hinterland of Tamil Nadu.
“So that the BJP can’t be called an urban party anymore,” Maalan said, adding that the alliance has also paved the way for a triangular contest in Tamil Nadu.
The alliance will have the most impact on the AIADMK, which will have difficulty in getting votes in the northern parts of the state, he said.
A PMK-AIADMK alliance would have resulted in a close contest with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in many places, especially in constituencies like Salem and Dharmapuri, he said.
However, the AIADMK leadership reacted that the PMK-BJP alliance would not create any impact in the state. “They said they are going to come to the AIADMK. But suddenly they changed their minds. God knows why,” AIADMK leader D. Jayakumar told ThePrint.
PMK’s consistent vote bank
A caste-based party founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 following the 1980s agitations by the Vanniyars demanding the MBC status, the PMK fought its maiden election in the 19991 assembly polls and won one seat (Panruti) and secured 5.9 percent votes. Since then, it has never contested solo, either in state or parliamentary polls.
The party is infamous for jumping ships too many times. Between 2004 and 2014, it joined hands with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in three elections (2004 general election; 2006, 2011 assembly polls) and once with the AIADMK (2009 Lok Sabha polls).
In 2014, the party partnered with the AIADMK-NDA alliance and together they fought the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 assembly election. The party, which contested alone in the 2016 assembly election, didn’t win any seat.
With a fixed vote share of about 5 percent votes in all elections, which has been its bargain, the party has its stronghold in pockets of northern districts including Chengalpattu, Dharmapuri, Salem, and Arakkonam.
“PMK’s vote bank has remained constant over the last 20 years. So before every election, they will bargain like anything to try to get the best deal for themselves,” Raman said, calling it an “opportunistic party”.
PMK leader R. Senthil asserted that the party was formed with the goal to give an option to the voters in a two-party system in Tamil Nadu.
“We had our difficult task of matching our strategy for this alliance and our strategy for this alliance and matching our strategy for the long-term goals of the party. When the party was founded in 1989, it was formed as an alternative to DMK and AIADMK,” Senthil told ThePrint.
Senthil said the party, which initially fought on its own, was forced to join the DMK and AIADMK in various elections
This, he said, drew criticism from party cadres and the public. So, we thought our party should decide the alliance with the view of the 2026 elections. In the 2026 election, we want to campaign for an alternative for the DMK and the AIADMK. And it starts from this election. That’s why we have chosen an alliance that is neither the DMK, nor the AIADMK.”
The NDA will have an advantage over AIADMK in the Lok Sabha polls as it has a prime ministerial candidate, he said.
He conceded that the party is yet to think about the present alliance till the next assembly election in 2026. “We will work for our ideology, our goal. We don’t know who will come with us in 2026. It all depends. Whoever wants an alternative to the DMK and the AIADMK in 2026, we will join with them,” Senthil said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: In Tamil Nadu, BJP tries to dispel ‘Brahmin party’ perception with no candidate from the community