NDA’s Tamil Nadu test begins today: As Modi kicks off poll campaign, what to watch out for
The faces on the stage along with the PM are meant to communicate breadth: caste groups, regional outfits, and smaller parties gathered under one umbrella to take on the DMK.
The rally’s real significance lies in the political arithmetic unfolding behind the scenes. (PTI photo of PM Modi during Kerala roadshow) By Friday afternoon, nearly 45,000 plastic chairs had been lined up in precise rows across an open ground off the Grand Southern Trunk Road in Chengalpattu district’s Maduranthagam, over 85 km from Chennai. Party workers tested microphones, rehearsed chants of “Modi, Modi, Modi,” and checked seating charts for a stage crowded with allies. The police fanned out across highways and junctions, preparing to seal traffic for hours.
The rally here, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to formally launch the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) Assembly election campaign, has the feel of both a political festival and a logistical operation, a carefully choreographed display meant to signal that the alliance has stitched together enough partners to mount a serious challenge to the ruling DMK.
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Organisers expect a crowd of up to 1.5 lakh people, drawn heavily from north Tamil Nadu, besides party functionaries from across the state. The entire GST Road corridor will face restrictions, with heavy vehicles barred for much of the day and light vehicles diverted for hours. A seven-tier security grid with about 3,500 police personnel has been deployed. Drones are prohibited. The PM is expected to land in Chennai around 3.30 pm and travel by helicopter to the venue.
The political arithmetic
The rally’s real significance lies in the political arithmetic unfolding behind the scenes. For weeks, especially in the last three days, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu election in-charge, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, has been holding marathon negotiations in Chennai to firm up the alliance before Modi’s visit. The objective: ensure that as many partners as possible share the stage, projecting unity and momentum ahead of the polls.
On stage with Modi are expected to be AIADMK general secretary and former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami; BJP leaders, including president Nitin Nabin, former state president K Annamalai, current state president Nainar Nagenthran, and MoS Parliamentary Affairs L Murugan; PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss; TTV Dhinakaran of the AMMK; G K Vasan of the Tamil Maanila Congress; Parivendhar of the IJK; A C Shanmugham of the Pudhiya Needhi Katchi; John Pandian of the Thamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam; and smaller regional leaders such as K C Thirumaran, Jagan Murthy, N R Dhanapalan, and Chellamuthu. The faces on stage are meant to communicate breadth: caste groups, regional outfits, and smaller parties gathered under one umbrella.
Several leaders who were in the alliance remain outside the NDA’s fold, among them Premalatha of the DMDK, former CM O Panneerselvam, senior PMK patriarch S Ramadoss, Puthiya Thamizhagam’s Krishnaswamy, and V K Sasikala. While negotiations with them continue, for now, they remain uncracked pieces in an alliance puzzle that is still incomplete and are not expected to be on the stage.
Inside the BJP, the message discipline for the rally has been tightly scripted. Leaders have been instructed not to criticise actor-politician Vijay or his emerging political outfit and to focus their fire squarely on the DMK. Issues such as law and order and the recent tensions in Thirupparankundram in Madurai over the lighting of a lamp at a contested religious site are expected to feature prominently in the speech.
Hours before departing for the rally, Modi struck an unmistakably campaign tone. “Tamil Nadu is with NDA,” he wrote on X. “Tamil Nadu has decided that it’s time to bid farewell to the corrupt DMK government. The NDA’s governance record and commitment to regional aspirations are striking a chord with the people of the state.”
The BJP hopes the rally will provide clarity on the alliance’s final shape. Talks with the AMMK were successful and Dhinakaran who joined the alliance will appear alongside Palaniswami and Modi on stage. Last-minute parleys are also underway with the DMDK. Panneerselvam, who has not been invited to the rally, is said to be keeping all his options open even as he waits for a signal from the NDA.
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