20 year old Congress-DMK alliance broken in Tamil Nadu, will MK Stalin follow the path of Naveen Patnaik?

The recent results of Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 have brought a major upheaval in the politics from South India to Delhi. The friendship between Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which had been unbroken for two decades (more than 20 years), has been completely torn apart in one stroke of electoral defeat. While this political disunity has created a rift in the opposition camp, it has also awakened a new ray of hope in the south for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre. There is a strong discussion in the corridors that BJP is working on the strategy of ‘Mission DMK’ to capitalize on the bitterness that has arisen between Congress and DMK and to strengthen its numerical strength in Parliament. ‘Stabbed in the back…’ Now DMK does not want to sit together even in Parliament. The sourness in the relations between the two parties has increased to such an extent that DMK has even publicly termed Congress as ‘stabbing in the back’. The harshness is not limited to just statements; DMK has written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla requesting him to change the seating arrangement of its MPs inside the Parliament. The party has made it clear that its MPs no longer want to sit with Congress leaders in the House. Will BJP be able to bring DMK into its fold? The relationship is old: According to reports quoting sources, BJP is preparing to take full advantage of these changing political equations in Tamil Nadu. The BJP leadership is exploring the possibility of how to bring the DMK into its fold on national issues. Interestingly, this alliance will not be new for BJP and DMK. Both the parties have worked together in the past. DMK was a strong ally in the NDA government led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, after the formation of the UPA government at the Center in 2004, DMK changed sides and since then it remained the most trusted ally of Congress. The crushing defeat in the assembly elections and the political compulsion of ‘Stalin’, political analysts believe that DMK is currently going through its most difficult phase. In the recent Tamil Nadu assembly elections, it suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of actor-turned-politician Vijay’s new party Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). After this defeat, Congress also left DMK and joined the ruling TVK. Experts’ opinion: After being out of power in the state, it is extremely harmful for any regional party to remain in the role of ‘opposition’ simultaneously at both the Center and the state, politically and economically. In such a situation, it may be easier for BJP than before to convince DMK to work together with the central government (support on the basis of issues). The two biggest ‘obstacles’ in the path of friendship are the two policy issues on which the ideological differences between the two parties are very deep: Delimitation and the three-language dispute: MK Stalin-led DMK has been the staunchest opponent of the Centre’s proposed delimitation plan. DMK had focused the entire assembly elections on this issue and "Centre’s attack on representation of southern states" Told. Apart from this, both are also face to face on ‘Three Language Formula’ (Language Dispute). In such a situation, it will not be easy for DMK to suddenly soften its stand. Old controversy on Sanatan Dharma: The controversial comments and statements given by former Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin regarding Sanatan Dharma had heated up the country’s politics for a long time. BJP had made it a big issue at the national level. It is no less than a big challenge for these two parties, completely opposite in ideology, to come together on this issue. Game of numbers: Why is BJP looking for ‘Naveen Patnaik of Tamil Nadu’? In fact, at present the NDA government at the Center does not have a two-thirds (2/3rd) majority in the Parliament (especially the Lok Sabha). Due to this lack of numerical strength, recently the government’s ambitious ‘Delimitation Bill’ failed due to not getting two-thirds votes in the Lok Sabha, where the government was 54 votes short of the magic figure. Strength of 22 MPs: DMK has a total of 22 Lok Sabha MPs in the Parliament. BJD and YSRCP formula: BJP sources say that instead of directly including DMK in NDA, the government wants to build an ‘issue-based’ relationship with them like it has with Naveen Patnaik’s BJD (BJD) in Odisha, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh and KCR’s BRS in Telangana. Despite not being part of the alliance, these parties have been indirectly helping the government through walkouts or support in Parliament on bills of national importance. If MK Stalin moves forward on this ‘Naveen Patnaik Model’, then the BJP in Delhi will get a big relief in getting its policies passed, while the weakened DMK in Tamil Nadu can get a security cover from the Centre.