Will BJP shift Annamalai to the Centre to ally with AIADMK? Here's what he has to say

There is no other BJP leader other than him in the southern state, who is anywhere near as popular, founder of 'C Voter' and well-regarded political expert Yashwant Deshmukh said.

Tamil Nadu BJP state president K Annamalai. Will he be moved or not? That is the big question engaging political observers these days. (File Photo | PTI)

BENGALURU: If the BJP leadership decides to remove K Annamalai, president of Tamil Nadu BJP, to make way for someone who can help sew up an alliance with the AIADMK, it will be done in a manner that will recognise his efforts and not demoralise the supporter base he has built for himself and the party. Sources in the national party said given the track record of Annamalai in Tamil Nadu, he is unlikely to be demoted.

A senior party leader said the removal of Annamalai was one of the key conditions put forth by AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palanisami when he met Home Minister Amit Shah last week.

When contacted, Annamalai told TNIE that he had shared his views with the reporters at the Coimbatore airport after his Delhi visit last week that whatever Amit Shah says will be the last word on the matter. “I am a party worker, and the party comes first. As I already said in Delhi, there will be no trouble for anyone because of me,” he said, giving a broad indication of his ‘ease’ at the alliance with the AIADMK.

Yashwant Deshmukh, founder of C-Voter, told TNIE that the BJP would not demote Annamalai to stitch an alliance with the AIADMK. “He is BJP’s best bet in Tamil Nadu,” Deshmukh said.

BJP may promote Annamalai as central minister: Deshmukh

“There is no leader other than him in the southern state, who appears in the popularity chart. The party lost 25 years in momentum due to the unfortunate death of former union minister P Rangarajan Kumaramangalam in August 2000. Superstar Rajnikanth was a non-starter politically for the party. They have got someone (Annamalai) worth pitching for after a long time.  

They may offer him promotion as central minister and replace him with someone, who will go well with the AIADMK and smaller anti-DMK parties,” said Deshmukh.

Ever since the two separate meetings of Home Minister Amit Shah with EPS and Annamalai in Delhi last week, two questions stared at the saffron party and the AIADMK. Will the BJP replace its party president to placate the AIADMK, which had come out of the NDA alliance in September 2023 over the former’s targeted criticism of its ideological leaders – CN Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa? Will the AIADMK, which is the main opposition party in TN and has been vociferously opposing the BJP-led NDA government on delimitation and three-language policies, soften its stand towards the saffron party for political survival?

Interestingly, while Palanisamy kept mum on the possible alliance with the BJP, Shah in an interview to a media house said that as far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, “our friends in AIADMK and our party members” are in discussions.

“Whenever it is announced, it will be known to the nation.” For the AIADMK, a return to the BJP may be the only way to oust DMK in the current scenario after an embarrassing performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in which it lost Theni, the lone seat it had won on the previous occasion.