India, Jan. 23 -- The return of TTV Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a breakaway of the AIADMK, to the NDA ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Chennai today will aid the alliance in at least two ways. One, it helps the NDA to project itself as the main Opposition alliance in the state ahead of the assembly elections. The 2024 general election turned out to be a walkover for the DMK-led INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu, mainly because the Opposition votes were fragmented, with the AIADMK floating a coalition of its own after refusing to align with the NDA. The INDIA bloc swept the polls, winning all 39 Lok Sabha seats from the state with 46.9% votes; the AIADMK-bloc and NDA drew a blank despite logging vote shares of 23.05% and 18.2% respectively. Two, the BJP has convinced AIADMK splinter groups to contest the assembly polls as part of the NDA. The AIADMK's decline after the demise of J Jayalalithaa in 2016 had much to do with splits in the party. Former chief minister and current chief of the AIADMK, Edappadi Palaniswami, is influential mostly in western Tamil Nadu. Dhinakaran and another former CM, O Pannerselvam (talks with whom are still ongoing), are electorally insignificant if they fight elections on their own, but both can add heft to the NDA if they fight together with their mother outfit, the AIADMK, especially in the southern districts. An alliance of all AIADMK splinter groups and the BJP has the potential to consolidate the old social base that once backed Jayalalithaa, and before her, MGR. In short, the NDA has successfully expanded the caste and geographical imprint of the alliance. With state politics more fragmented than ever, and a new untested entrant in actor Vijay waiting in the wings, the 2026 assembly election in Tamil Nadu is likely to be a closely fought affair....