BJP’s Annamalai achieved too many things too quickly. Now he will have to learn to be patient

In Annamalai, the BJP had found a leader unlike any other in the past — he knew how to grab the limelight and pitched himself as the face of the opposition.

AIADMK leaders were left fuming over BJP state chief Annamalai's recent statement about former Tamil Nadu chief minister C. N. Annadurai | ANI File Photo

Thirty-nine-year-old K Annamalai has achieved many feats for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu. He made it a part of the news discourse in state politics, amassed a following among the Gounder community, and pushed the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on the back foot with allegations of graft. But the one thing that the ambitious leader hasn’t been able to do, according to political analysts, is learn to be patient.

During a closed-door meeting of party workers after the Erode bypolls in March 2023, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu president had reportedly said he would rather resign than support the central BJP’s decision to continue its alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Annamalai later said that he was keen on doing “clean politics” and against cash-for-vote-based politics, which he alleged took place in Erode bypolls.

With the AIADMK-BJP split, his wish has come true—the Dravidian party leaders have pointed toward Annamalai as the factor that provoked them to call it quits. And that is why the Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.

Aggressive politics at the top

AIADMK leaders have said that it was Annamalai’s remarks against party icons such as CN Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa that catalysed the split.

“Annamalai is a problem for all allies, and his remarks [and] activities are against the interest of BJP as well. He doesn’t understand the sanctity of allies. If you want to grow your party, you are free to do it, but for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election, BJP needs us,” said AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan in conversation with ThePrint. He also called Annamalai a “rabble-rouser” and “political novice” who doesn’t understand politics.

Political analyst JVC Sreeram, though, argues that the BJP leader is just an excuse. “Annamalai is a convenient scapegoat or excuse that the AIADMK has given for breaking the alliance.”

‘Singham’ to state president

Annamalai, a native of Karur in western Tamil Nadu, attracted media attention as an IPS officer in the Karnataka cadre between 2011 and 2019. He joined the BJP a year later, and in 2021, was elevated to the post of the party’s state president.

Within the BJP, leaders harbour mixed feelings toward him. While some support his “aggressive politics”, others claim that he has sidelined most of the senior leaders in the BJP.

“Our party has become more vocal, and Annamalai was a sincere IPS officer who quit service to directly do good for the people. Some oppose him because they are scared of his growth,” said BJP spokesperson Amar Prasad Reddy.

In March 2023, Annamalai drew a parallel between himself and former chief ministers M Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa, saying that he would continue to remain aggressive for the party’s welfare. He also mentioned that as long as he was heading the BJP, the party wouldn’t work in the “managerial style” of national parties.

In the past two years, Annamalai has been successful in mainstreaming the BJP in Tamil Nadu politics, even as several members deserted the party. The BJP’s former IT wing chief CTR Nirmal Kumar had accused Annamalai of “running a one-man show” in his resignation letter dated March 2023.

“Annamalai understands things very quickly. He is determined and plays his cards from [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi’s playbook,” Sreeram says, adding that the former ‘Singham’ of Karnataka has his share of negatives too. “He makes commitments that he does not fulfil. He said he would start a house-to-house campaign for the party, but that is not being done. He says he trusts his people but that also is not true. His [IPS] background has left him in a position where it takes time for him to trust people.”

The party chief’s mud-slinging toward other parties is perhaps what’s keeping voters at bay in supporting the BJP.

“BJP has no friends here. Everyone here is our enemy,” Annamalai said in April 2023, adding that the BJP would expose all parties that ruled the state and indulged in corruption.

“His remarks on our party, our former leader, make it difficult for the party (BJP) to convince the cadres to vote for it, as he speaks ill about our former leaders, our general secretary. Annamalai’s attitude is something against AIADMK and its cadres,” adds Sathyan.

AIADMK vs Annamalai

In 1999, just 13 months after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power at the Centre, the AIADMK withdrew its support during a no-confidence motion. It led to the collapse of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Soon after, Jayalalithaa said at a public rally, “I gave you a promise, I made a mistake, I had an alliance with the BJP. I have the guts and courage to accept my mistake. As a rectification to the mistake, I have dissolved the BJP government. Never in the future will the AIADMK have any alliance with the BJP.”

But in the next election, the AIADMK again aligned with the BJP. The alliance failed to win any seats in Tamil Nadu. In the following years, the AIADMK maintained its distance from the BJP. During the 2014 campaign, interestingly, AIADMK ran with the slogan: “Gujaratin Modiya, illa Tamil Natin intha lady ah (Will it be Gujarat’s Modi or Tamil Nadu’s Lady?).”

With Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016, which led to a significant turmoil within the AIADMK with two factions coming up, the BJP found an opportunity to build its ground in Tamil Nadu politics. While it gained some currency, it was only after Annamalai’s induction that the party learned how to grab the limelight. As if one cue, Annamalai also pitched himself as the face of the opposition.

“Anti-DMK politics is what [the] AIADMK has thrived on. And now, Annamalai, a leader who is able to offer an alternative, is eating into AIADMK’s core vote base,” said Sreeram.

Sensitive Kongu belt

Annamalai belongs to the Gounder community just like the AIADMK’s current chief, Edappadi K Palaniswami. The former CM and the current leader of opposition, EPS had consolidated a good mandate for himself within the party and ousted all threats to his leadership like O Panneerselvam (OPS) and TTV Dinakaran (TTV). The AIADMK has had a stronghold in the Kongu belt that covers nine districts — Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, and Dindigul. In the 2021 assembly election in the Gounder-dominated Kongu belt, the AIADMK won 32 of the 54 seats it contested.

Speaking to ThePrint in August this year, Annamalai confidently said that the voting pattern in south Tamil Nadu and Kongu belt will change, and more votes will be polled in favour of the NDA.

According to the Lokniti-CSDS post-poll survey, the BJP got around 2 per cent of votes in Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, mostly from the Thevars (21 per cent), Gounders (20 per cent), ‘upper’ caste (8.7 per cent), Scheduled Castes (13.2 per cent), and Scheduled Tribes (2 per cent).

“In the AIADMK, there is no second line of young leaders who are charismatic, dynamic, or articulate. The senior leadership is feeling challenged by the young Annamalai who already has a good social media image, and is making efforts to build the BJP in [the] South,” says Sreeram.

BJP’s politics is antithetical

Some analysts draw the contrast between Annamalai’s beefy social media image and the reality on the ground. “His social media image will get votes if North India gets to vote in Tamil Nadu elections,” said author and political analyst RS Neelakantan in a conversation with ThePrint.

“The problem the BJP has in Tamil Nadu is,” Neelakantan added, “[that] its politics and policy positions are antithetical to Tamilian interests. This is because they have to focus on their core vote bank in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Tamil Nadu and those Indo-Gangetic plains are involved in a zero-sum game when one considers the resource allocation problems of India.” He added that the BJP can either win the Indo-Gangetic plains or Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to ThePrint in May, Annamalai said that the BJP high command had given him a clear roadmap for the next five years.

So, the BJP won’t let go of Annamalai anytime soon. In the past year alone, he has received praise from senior leaders like Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and Union home minister Amit Shah. “He has been given the task to build the party. He has grabbed more attention for the party unlike any other state chiefs in the past. Why would the BJP sideline Annamalai for the hostage situation that AIADMK is creating?” said Sreeram.

Analysts, though, say that the discord is temporary. But Annamalai, who has achieved too many things too quickly, will have to learn to be patient. “He should focus on a battle with the DMK for gains in 2024, and then think about 2026, but here, he has picked up his battle with both DMK and AIADMK thinking of 2026,” said Sreeram.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Humra Laeeq)