CHENNAI: Union Home Minister and BJP’s poll strategist Amit Shah will reach Chennai on Thursday night and is expected to hold marathon meetings with senior functionaries of the BJP on Friday.
Shah’s visit assumes significance as a decision is expected on who will be the state BJP president, about which speculations have been rife for more than a week. K Annamalai, the incumbent president, has told the media that he was “not in the race” for the post, indicating his reluctance to continue, while restraining from categorically saying that he would be stepping down.
Nainar Nagendran, who is touted to be the next state president, met Shah in Delhi earlier this week. BJP sources said the union minister may also meet leaders of alliance parties. However, there is no clarity yet on whether any AIADMK leader is meeting Shah, with the latter acknowledging that talks are under way for the AIADMK and the BJP to join hands for the 2026 Assembly election.
According to the tentative programme, Shah will arrive in Chennai at 10.25 pm on Thursday and head to a private hotel in Guindy, where he will be staying. After a series of meetings on Friday, Shah will reach Mylapore for a personal meeting between 4.40 pm and 5.40 pm, following which he will leave for New Delhi.
The speculation that Annamalai may not continue as state president began after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami met Shah in Delhi. The meeting was seen as a harbinger of coming together of the two parties as allies after the Dravidian major left the BJP-led NDA in September 2023.
However, Palaniswami had said alliance was not discussed. After EPS’ meeting, AIADMK’s senior leader KA Sengottaiyan met Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, which was purportedly “for the welfare of the AIADMK”.
HM to meet allies
BJP sources said the union home minister may also meet leaders of alliance parties. However, there is no clarity yet on whether any AIADMK leader is meeting Shah, with the latter acknowledging that talks are on for AIADMK and BJP to join for ’26 polls
