Chennai, Apr 11 (PTI) BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu have always been highly critical of the DMK, and former IPS official K Annamalai, who became the party state president in 2021, was no exception. He sustained the tempo.
BJP senior leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the party envisaged a greater role for Annamalai at national level.
The 40-year-old police official-turned politician is known for his ‘En Mann En Makkal’ (My Land, My People) yatra in the state. As has been a tradition in the party, his immediate predecessor and present Union Minister L Murugan undertook a ‘Vel yatra’ and in the past former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan took out a ‘Thamarai yatra’ across the state.
Annamalai made his electoral debut in the 2021 Assembly election from Aravakurichi constituency in Karur district and lost. He unsuccessfully contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
His sharp barbs on the DMK went well with his party members and even the AIADMK initially. However, the latter began to rethink their alliance after he started targetting the AIADMK leaders. The relations between the two parties turned sour before the 2024 Lok Sabha election when the AIADMK announced to part ways with the saffron party.
The poll campaign took an interesting turn in 2024 when AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami called Annamalai a “publicity hound.” The latter retaliated by relating Palaniswami to “sour grapes” story for breaking poll ties with the BJP.
DMK appeared to gain much out of the rancorous fight between these two parties and the Dravidian major’s president and Chief Minister M K Stalin taunted Palaniswami to criticise the BJP leadership. PTI JSP KH
