Begin campaign for 2026 Tamil Nadu polls immediately: DMK tells cadres

Chennai: Though assembly elections are at least 16 months away from now, DMK on Wednesday exhorted its cadre to begin their campaign for the “crucial polls” immediately to ensure that the party assumes power for a seventh term in Tamil Nadu. 

At a meeting of the High-level Action Plan Committee, the party passed six resolutions, including one on criticising the BJP government at the Centre of “imposing Hindi” using every possible avenue and another that tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the ethnic conflict in Manipur. 

The meeting chaired by Stalin also exhorted the Union Government to immediately release fishermen from Tamil Nadu languishing in Sri Lankan jails and their boats, besides finding a lasting solution to the problems faced by Indian fishers in the Palk Bay.

Launching a frontal attack on the BJP, the DMK accused the saffron party of celebrating Hindi week in non-Hindi speaking states by ignoring local languages, delaying the Caste Census, hell bent on implementing ‘One Nation, One Election’ and not implementing promises made during successive elections. 

On Manipur, the party accused the BJP of “ignoring” Manipur and spending all its energy on winning elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand and criticized the Prime Minister for not finding time to visit the north-eastern state, torn by internal strife. “It looks like the BJP governments in Manipur and at the Centre have washed their hands off the state. The question that arises is how many more lives will be lost due to the lackadaisical approach of the governments?” a resolution asked.

Pinning hopes on its welfare programmes implemented in the past 3.5 years, the DMK claimed that the people of the state have decided to continue with the party-led government “forever”. 

“There is no doubt that the welfare measures will ensure that the party is voted back to power in the 2026 elections,” the meeting said, and appealed to the cadres to start preparations for the polls immediately. 

The party meeting also asked cadres to reach out to people through pamphlets and conduct door-to-door outreach programs to canvas for votes. 

DMK has begun work on the 2026 polls especially in the wake of actor Vijay’s entry into politics through his party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam. 

The party had in July appointed a Coordination Committee which has a mix of senior and experienced leaders and has been quite active in the past few months with deputy chief minister Udhay himself chairing meetings with several frontal organisations to prepare them for the polls. 

The party has also been considering increasing the number of district units for better coordination among partymen and enhancing the party’s presence on various social media platforms, as part of its strategy for the polls.