Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 21 : Congress MP KC Venugopal said that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to hijack the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and is using All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) as a weapon to do so.
Speaking at a press conference, Venugopal said that this election is a contest between the Tamil culture and the idea of secularism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "dictatorial rule."
"This election is actually between the Tamil culture and the ideology of secularism against the divisive and dictatorial rule of PM Modi. The BJP wants to hijack the entire election, and they chose AIADMK as a weapon," he said.
Speaking on voting out the Delimitation Bill, he said that the Centre wanted to reduce the seats in Tamil Nadu but was defeated by a collaborative effort of the Opposition.
"They want to reduce the number of seats in Tamil Nadu. The entire opposition, the INDIA alliance, Congress and DMK together fought and defeated them. Now, they are campaigning that they are for the women's reservation, and we are all against it. It's a complete lie. The people of Tamil Nadu are going to prove that Modi's drama is not going to succeed in Tamil Nadu at all," he said.
Further, he exuded confidence in the victory of the DMK-Congress alliance, saying that the BJP's false propaganda will not succeed in the elections.
He said, "The DMK Congress alliance will win hands down in Tamil Nadu this election. The Congress President yesterday attended the joint meeting with Stalin. I attended three meetings today. All Congress and DMK ministers, and Rahul Gandhi, were there. Congress and DMK are together. We will fight this election together, and we will win. BJP's false propaganda is not going to succeed at all. "
Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase with the counting of votes scheduled for May 4.
The main contest is expected between the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, which includes the Indian National Congress, DMDK and VCK, and the National Democratic Alliance led by AIADMK with BJP and PMK as allies.