The AIADMK Member of Parliament and former Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha M. Thambi Durai, on Friday (May 8, 2026), expressed the hope that the party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami would come back to power. 

Talking to journalists outside the residence of Mr. Palaniswami, the AIADMK veteran said during the election tour of the general secretary, the public sentiment was evident in favour of his party’s return to power. “I hope this may happen,” Mr. Thambi Durai observed, hastening to add it was for Mr. Palaniswami to take a call on the question of an alliance between the DMK and the AIADMK. 

He was responding to a question on the possibility of the truce between the two Dravidian majors. 

The former Deputy Speaker was the second senior leader who chose not to dismiss the talk of a patch up between the two parties. On Thursday (May 7), former Health Minister S. Semmalai, after calling on Mr. Palaniswami, said that his party leader would be the “king and not the kingmaker.” He would take a “firm and good decision” on the issue of alliance between his party and the DMK.

To another question whether the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)’s leader K.A. Sengottaiyan was making an attempt to woo a section of the AIADMK’s newly-elected legislators, the former Minister dismissed it as a matter of speculation and answered that his party’s legislators were “not naive” to be carried away by any such move. “They are all bound by the general secretary’s word.”  

M.K. Stalin, president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and outgoing Chief Minister, on Thursday (May 7, 2026) hurriedly convened a meeting of the party’s allies, including the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), amid speculation that the DMK may extend support to an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government headed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

CPI(M) State secretary P. Shanmugam, CPI State secretary M. Veerapandian, and VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan were among those who rushed to Mr. Stalin’s Cenotaph Road residence to attend the meeting. Senior leaders of the DMDK also took part.

Though Mr. Stalin is said to be firm that supporting an AIADMK government would be politically untenable, senior DMK leaders, including some senior outgoing Ministers, were reportedly pressuring him to consider such a proposal.

“Once Mr. Vijay forms the government, it will be difficult to unseat him for the next 10 to 15 years. The Dravidian parties have to take a decision to prevent such an eventuality,” a senior DMK leader said.

The argument within the DMK is that, since Mr. Stalin would not be in the Assembly, the DMK and the AIADMK could evolve a common minimum programme and jointly run the government.

It is against this backdrop that Mr. Stalin invited the Left leaders and Mr. Thirumavalavan for consultations. Depending on the views expressed by the alliance partners, the DMK legislators’ meeting scheduled for this evening is expected to take a final call.

However, previously, DMK MP Kalanidhi Veerasamy, said the DMK had decided to function as an effective opposition despite “Congress betrayal”. In a social media message, he alleged that the AIADMK was pushing the BJP to stop the TVK from forming the government. “This is disrespecting the people’s mandate. Hope democracy prevails,” he said.