Tamil Nadu BJP churn continues as VP resigns to follow Annamalai

Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai’s exit from the saffron party on Friday, June 5, triggered the first major signs of a split in its state unit, with Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president Karu Nagarajan resigning hours later and extending support to Annamalai’s new political movement.

Resigning from the BJP’s primary membership, Nagarajan along with his supporters said they would back Annamalai’s new political venture.

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“I don’t wish to fault any leader, we have decided to support Annamalai, who is an energetic and bold leader,” PTI quoted Nagarajan as saying.

Apart from Nagarajan, BJP’s state secretary Sumathi Venkatesh and at least 14 other party officials have tendering their resignations, as per The Times of India.

In her resignation letter, Venkatesh noted that the decision was taken after “careful thought and is not without sadness”.

This is my humble intimation to all 👃👃👃 pic.twitter.com/mHpAtDHNml

— Sumathi Venkatesh (மோடியின் குடும்பம்) (@SumathiVenkat18) June 5, 2026

Also, Abhilash Gopinath, BJP Yuva Morcha state legal convener, has parted ways with the BJP.

As per reports, Gopinath stated that the decision was “driven by my conviction to follow the path and vision of K Annamalai, whose leadership, integrity, and commitment to public life inspired me to enter politics and continue to influence my political journey”.

‘Common citizen’ Annamalai exits BJP

Earlier in the day, Annamalai formally announced his exit from the BJP and sought to rebrand himself as a “common citizen”, aspiring to bring decisive and transformational change in the state’s Dravidian-dominated politics.

While updating his profile picture, he described himself as, “A common man in search of good politics”.

The cop-turned-politician made it clear that he will dissociate from the conventional politics of Tamil Nadu and is looking forward to focus on leading a “movement” backed by people, a move that will ‘clean up’ caste-entrenched politics in the state.

In his resignation letter to the BJP high command, Annamalai spoke out about the dichotomy between the common man and the elite in politics.

“I wanted to change the notion that politics is a path only for the elite and a select few, not for the common man. I’m extremely thankful to the BJP leadership for trusting a very young and raw me with great responsibility and leadership positions,” he wrote.

Further, he stated that people of Tamil Nadu have been fatigued by the general political discourse for many decades and yearned for change.

“Some positive change happened in the past decade, but they couldn’t hold their ground,” he noted.