Ex-IPS Annamalai appointed Tamil Nadu BJP chief

Less than a year after he joined the party, former Karnataka-cadre IPS officer K Annamalai was on Thursday night appointed as the new President of the Tamil Nadu BJP, underlining the saffron outfit’s concerted efforts to make inroads in the state still rooted in Dravidian politics.

Annamalai replaces L Murugan, who was inducted into the Union Cabinet as a Minister of State (MoS) on Wednesday. BJP General Secretary Arun Singh said in a statement that Annamalai, a Karnataka-cadre officer who quit IPS in 2019, is being appointed as President of the Tamil Nadu unit. He added that the appointment comes into effect immediately.

The appointment of Annamalai was expected and DH had earlier reported that the former IPS officer was the front-runner for the post. Within days of his joining the BJP in August 2020, Annamalai was elevated to the post of Vice-President and was a member of the party delegation that held seat-sharing talks with senior partner, AIADMK, for the April 6 assembly elections.

Annamalai, 37, is probably the youngest chief of the Tamil Nadu BJP and faces an uphill task to strengthen the party at the grassroots and take on a resurgent DMK, which has captured Fort. St. George, the state government’s seat of power, after a decade. The BJP High Command feels Annamalai, who hails from the dominant Gounder community, will be able to woo youngsters to the party and strengthen it at the grassroots level.

By projecting Annamalai as its face, the BJP feels it can garner the support of the Gounder community that holds sway in the Western region. The BJP has been focussing on the western belt, where its ally AIADMK is also strong, for the past few years and appointing Murugan was also keeping an eye on expanding its base in the region.

Annamalai, who unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections from his native Aravakurichi constituency, will have to take along several factions with him as he takes over as the state unit chief. He will also have to handle allies like the AIADMK, which is beset with internal problems, and PMK, considered a tough alliance partner.

His appointment also comes close on the heels of a senior AIADMK leader, C Ve Shanmugham, laying the blame for the party’s defeat in the assembly elections at the BJP. Though O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami asserted that the alliance with BJP was intact, the faultiness have begun to appear.