Tamil Nadu Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
DMK second line leader and State Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar, on Thursday (March 26, 2026), said AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has no right to comment on the seat-sharing arrangements among the constituents of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA).
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Mr. Sivasankar questioned why Mr. Palaniswami visited New Delhi and met BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah before announcing the number of seats and the constituencies allotted to the AIADMK’s allies.
He said not only Mr. Palaniswami, but also leaders of alliance partners visited New Delhi to discuss seat-sharing and resolve differences, “as they consider the BJP to be the leader of the alliance and Mr. Shah is the one who takes decisions.”
According to him, Mr. Palaniswami would meet the same fate as Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar in Bihar [who has said he would resign as Chief Minister], and that the AIADMK would suffer a similar outcome to what happened to the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party [both suffered split in ranks] in Maharashtra.
Terming the BJP as a party “which was once below NOTA,” he said that by allowing the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and a few other parties to contest on the BJP’s ‘Lotus’ symbol, the AIADMK had given greater importance to the BJP by allocating it more seats.
“At a time when the situation in the NDA is like this, Mr. Palaniswami has no right to criticise the seat-sharing among the alliance partners of the DMK,” Mr. Sivasankar said, adding if the AIADMK calls itself a Dravidian party, it should ensure the self-respect of its party workers.
Centre’s external affairs policy failed: Anbil Mahesh
Separately, in a video message posted on X, another DMK leader and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said the BJP-led Union government had failed to take the States along and move forward. He also said and the Centre’s external affairs policy had failed.
He questioned whether the Centre had been handling the cooking gas cylinder shortage effectively amid the ongoing crisis in West Asia. He added the AIADMK had “mortgaged” itself to the BJP and forgotten the welfare of the people.
He claimed the AIADMK’s intention was only to satisfy the BJP and because of that, without understanding, it had begun criticising the Tamil Nadu government over the cooking gas shortage instead of questioning the Centre.
Published – March 26, 2026 12:32 pm IST
