Political big drama in Tamil Nadu: Amit Shah given big shock to K Annamalai

Political big drama in Tamil Nadu: Amidst discussions about forming a BJP-AIADMK alliance for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections due next year, K Annamalai is likely to step down as the Tamil Nadu president of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Political big drama in Tamil Nadu: Amit Shah given big shock to K Annamalai.

The decision is being taken considering the caste equations that the BJP is trying to use to increase its influence in the state, which is approaching elections, according to media report. Annamalai is considered one of the main reasons for the split between AIADMK and BJP in 2023.

It is said that BJP does not want to have faces of both ally partners from the same Gounder community. Both Annamalai and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Edappadi K Palaniswami belong to the powerful backward community.

Both are from the West Kongu region of Tamil Nadu, where the Gaudars are dominant. A former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer (2011 batch, Karnataka), Annamalai joined the BJP in August 2020. He was made the head of the state unit within 10 months of joining the party.

Annamalai said on Sunday that the party’s central leadership will take an ‘appropriate decision’ on the shape and nature of the alliance ahead of the state assembly elections due next year. It is clear that Annamalai, whose controversial statements were considered the reason for the AIADMK leaving the BJP-led NDA in 2024, has changed the course of the alliance ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

Last week, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and Union Home Minister Amit Shah met in Delhi. AIADMK allied with the BJP after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016. But after the DMK’s landslide victory in Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections, EPS pulled out of the alliance in 2023.

Annamalai’s controversial statements have further soured relations, with the AIADMK demanding an apology or his replacement. The party cited the BJP’s Tamil Nadu leadership’s constant insults and defamatory statements, especially targeting AIADMK stalwarts CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, as the main reasons for severing ties.

The party has reportedly placed some conditions on the alliance. The party wants the BJP to form a high-powered steering committee to oversee coordination between the parties. Reports say that this power will overtake Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai.

As reports suggest, the AIADMK now has no other option. But if the BJP wants to exist in the state’s political landscape, it will have to adapt to it. Also, actor Vijay has started his own party – Tamilaga Vetri Kalagam (TVK) which is one of the factors that led to the change of heart of AIADMK.

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