Annamalai faces tough choices in the Dravidian landscape

Chennai: Kuppusamy Annamalai entered politics as the Tamil Nadu BJP chief in July 2021 with an audacity rarely seen in the state’s deeply entrenched Dravidian landscape. 

With his no-holds-barred approach, the former Karnataka-cadre IPS officer sought to reshape the BJP’s fortunes by breaking away from its dependence on long-time ally AIADMK. However, his ideological tightrope-walking and high-stakes gambles have left the BJP leader both celebrated and isolated.

With the 2026 Assembly polls on the horizon, his leadership faces its toughest test yet: Survival or reinvention.

Annamalai captured Tamil Nadu’s political scene, which had not seen a young leader like him in recent memory, unsettling many BJP veterans, who are still trying to come to terms with his meteoric rise. His strong rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a major advantage.

He transitioned into a full-time politician just two years after voluntarily retiring from the IPS in 2019 following a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar the previous year.

His supporters believe the former police officer has the potential to disrupt the bipolar nature of Tamil Nadu politics by challenging both DMK and AIADMK, which have alternated in power since 1967.

But critics see the BJP leader as someone who is “full of himself” and still behaving like a police officer despite having hung his khaki long ago. Moreover, his harsh remarks about political figures such as actor Vijay and his shifting stance on key issues might have hurt his image. 

Annamalai’s relentless attacks on the DMK have not only increased media attention on the BJP— once mocked as a party that competed only with the NOTA option in EVMs — but have also drawn the saffron party cadre and its ideological supporters closer to him.

His “bold attitude and statements”, even if not always accurate, have struck a chord with some sections of the electorate, which have long admired hero worship not just in cinema but also in politics. However, his claims of the BJP crossing a 20% vote share in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were widely ridiculed.

Hailing from the influential Gounder community in western Tamil Nadu, Annamalai initially struck the right chords by acknowledging the contributions of social reformer EVR Periyar, opposing “Hindi imposition”, and even calling himself a “Black Dravidian” in an attempt to connect with the average Tamil voter.

But such efforts were overshadowed by his occasional alignment with the BJP’s core Hindutva ideology, which has limited traction in the state.

One of the first major controversies he faced was the politicisation of a minor girl’s suicide, which he alleged was due to pressure to convert to Christianity. Three years later, the CBI rejected the conversion angle, embarrassing both him and the BJP.

Similarly, his stance on the three-language policy and delimitation — though consistent with the BJP’s national agenda — has isolated the party in Tamil Nadu, with even allies like the PMK keeping a distance. Given the state’s deep-rooted linguistic identity, this could prove costly for the saffron party.

Hardline approach

Annamalai has remained consistent in his attacks on the DMK, the BJP’s ideological adversary, but he also targeted his then-ally AIADMK, lumping both Dravidian parties together on issues such as corruption and nepotism. His hardline approach toward the AIADMK earned him more enemies than friends.

From the start of his tenure, Annamalai was clear that the BJP could expand its base in Tamil Nadu only by shedding its dependence on Dravidian parties. He made the bold decision to break ties with the AIADMK for the 2022 urban local body elections. With the BJP’s vote share rising from about 3 to 5.7%, Annamalai emerged as a key face of the opposition. 

Annamalai’s controversial remarks about Dravidian icons C N Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa, along with his relentless attacks on the AIADMK, pushed the latter to walk out of the NDA just eight months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

One of Annamalai’s biggest achievements as TN BJP chief, his supporters say, is having taken the party’s flag and election symbol to all 234 Assembly constituencies through his ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ yatra.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he cobbled together a rainbow alliance, bringing in almost all former AIADMK allies and leaders like TTV Dhinakaran, which helped secure a chunk of the influential Thevar vote.

Though the BJP failed to win a single seat, the party posted a double-digit vote share in Tamil Nadu for the first time without the support of either the DMK or AIADMK. The alliance garnered an impressive 19% vote share, with the BJP alone securing 11%.

But his loss in Coimbatore — despite winning 4.5 lakh votes and pushing the AIADMK to a distant third— was unexpected for many in the BJP.

While the party fully backed him and even allowed him a three-month sabbatical to pursue a fellowship in London, Annamalai has struggled to regain momentum.

By the time Annamalai returned from London, Tamil Nadu’s political landscape had shifted.

Vijay’s entry into politics dominated media attention and his declaration that the DMK was his “political enemy” and the BJP his “ideological enemy” positioned the Kollywood star as a major challenger.

With the political space becoming increasingly crowded, Annamalai will have to walk the extra mile. 

The question remains: Will he stick to his stand of not allying with the AIADMK, or will he compromise to mount a stronger challenge to the DMK? Either way, it is a tough road for him ahead of the 2026 polls.