Udhayanidhi Stalin has sharpened the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s attack on the Congress party, accusing its former ally of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral advance more than Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly made the remarks at a DMK youth wing meeting as the party sought to steady its organisation after its loss of power in the 2026 Assembly election. His comments marked one of the clearest signs of strain between the DMK and Congress after the latter moved away from the DMK-led bloc and joined the government led by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief C Joseph Vijay.
Udhayanidhi argued that the BJP’s repeated victories across several electoral contests had been aided by Congress missteps, weak strategy and alliance choices. He suggested that Modi and Shah had benefited from the principal opposition party’s failures rather than from their own leadership alone. The criticism was aimed not only at Congress’s national record but also at its conduct in Tamil Nadu after the hung verdict.
The remarks come at a sensitive time for opposition politics. Tamil Nadu’s Assembly election produced a fractured mandate, with TVK emerging as the single largest party but falling short of a majority in the 234-member House. Vijay’s party secured 108 seats, while the DMK-led alliance was reduced to 73. The AIADMK-led bloc finished behind, and the BJP managed only a marginal presence in the state legislature. Congress, which had contested the election as part of the DMK-led arrangement, later extended support to the TVK-led government and gained representation in the Cabinet.
That shift has deepened resentment within the DMK, which had relied on Congress as part of a broader anti-BJP formation both in Tamil Nadu and at the national level. The decision by Congress legislators to support Vijay’s government has been interpreted by DMK leaders as a political betrayal at a moment when the party was attempting to consolidate the opposition space after its defeat.
Udhayanidhi’s comments also reflect a wider argument within regional parties that Congress has struggled to manage alliances effectively. Several regional leaders have long complained that Congress seeks a central role in opposition politics without demonstrating sufficient electoral strength in key states. The DMK’s criticism now places Tamil Nadu at the centre of that debate, especially as the opposition bloc faces questions over cohesion, leadership and strategy ahead of future national contests.
The Congress party has traditionally depended on alliances in Tamil Nadu, where its independent organisational base has weakened over several decades. Its partnership with the DMK had helped it retain relevance in parliamentary and Assembly elections, but its decision to enter Vijay’s ruling arrangement has altered that equation. For the DMK, the move has not merely changed Assembly arithmetic; it has raised doubts about Congress’s reliability as a long-term partner.
DMK president M K Stalin has also been working to rebuild morale among party workers after the election outcome. He has argued that TVK’s victory was driven heavily by cinema appeal, social media mobilisation and anti-incumbency rather than a deep ideological shift. The party has begun reviewing constituency-level setbacks and has asked cadres to counter rival narratives more aggressively, particularly on digital platforms where TVK made significant gains.
Udhayanidhi’s attack on Congress fits into that rebuilding exercise. By directing criticism at a former ally, he is seeking to frame the DMK’s defeat not only as the result of voter anger or TVK’s rise but also as a consequence of alliance instability. His message to youth wing members was that the party must rely more on its own cadre strength, organisational reach and ideological clarity than on partners whose commitments may shift after the vote.
The BJP, meanwhile, remains a central reference point in the DMK’s political messaging despite its limited seat tally in Tamil Nadu. The DMK has continued to position itself as a principal opponent of the BJP’s national agenda, especially on federalism, language policy, social justice and secularism. Udhayanidhi’s statement that Congress has done more to enable BJP victories than Modi or Shah is designed to challenge Congress’s claim to lead the anti-BJP space.
