Now you know why Annamalai walked out of BJP

Former BJP Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai said he had "severe disagreements" with the brass over the party's approach in the state. At the India Today Roundtable Tamil Nadu, Annamalai said the BJP's Delhi-centric decision-making, lack of autonomy for state leaders and assigning most projects to Gujarat made him quit the party.Annamalai joined the BJP in August 2020, a year after resigning from the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 2019. (Image: India Today Group)Months after quitting the BJP, its former Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai revealed why he walked out of the saffron party which he had joined in 2020, a year after resigning from the Indian Police Service (IPS). Speaking at the India Today Roundtable Tamil Nadu, Annamalai on Monday said he had developed "severe disagreements" with the BJP's Delhi-centric decision-making and believed Tamil Nadu needed a political force whose leadership and priorities were rooted in the state.Annamalai, who quit the BJP in June and launched his grassroots movement We the Leaders, said his differences with the party leadership had been building for a long time. He said he believed Tamil Nadu was "ready for a change", but the BJP's central leadership was "not hearing" the aspirations of a young and restless electorate.In a way, TVK chief C Joseph Vijay's victory in the Assembly election proves Annamalai right.Annamalai's departure from the BJP had followed years in which he sought to expand the saffron party independently in Tamil Nadu, before the party returned to an alliance with the AIADMK for the 2026 Assembly election. He led the Tamil Nadu BJP between 2021 and 2025 and pushed an aggressive strategy of building the party beyond the traditional Dravidian politics. WHAT ANNAMALAI SAID ON MEKEDATU DAM PROJECTAt the India Today Roundtable, Annamalai said he had conveyed his intention to leave as early as October-November 2025, but was asked to stay until the Assembly election was over. After the election in May, Annamalai said he approached the BJP leadership again and sought an amicable exit rather than making their disagreements public.The former IPS officer also revealed that remaining in Delhi or having a government position (while staying in the BJP) wasn't an option. He said building something from the grassroots gave him greater freedom and was closer to his original purpose. Annamalai laid out what he believed was structurally wrong with the BJP's approach to Tamil Nadu. They were, he said, decisions taken in Delhi, insufficient autonomy for state leaders, and what he described as an excessive concentration of national projects in Gujarat.Annamalai also questioned the BJP-led Centre's changing position on the Mekedatu dam issue, suggesting that electoral considerations in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were influencing its approach."Mekedatu, 2021, the same central government said Karnataka doesn't have any business to build a dam, it has to come to the Centre. The same government in 2026 in Parliament said Karnataka can build, and central permission is not required. Why this change in five years? People are watching it. Because Karnataka elections are coming first in 2028, Tamil Nadu is coming second. You can't make a position based on that," he said.Despite his criticism, Annamalai stressed that he continued to respect Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said disagreement with the BJP did not mean opposition to the Prime Minister. His movement We the Leaders, Annamalai said, would remain "nationalist at heart". WHAT'S BEHIND DEPARTURE FROM BJP? ANNAMALAI REVEALSAnnamalai said his departure from the BJP wasn't triggered by a single episode, but followed a prolonged conversation with the BJP's top leadership over the party's direction in Tamil Nadu. "I've been having this conversation with our top leadership for a long time now," he said at the India Today Roundtable.Recalling the BJP's electoral strategy, Annamalai pointed out that the party had contested separately in the 2021 local body polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha election before returning to an alliance in 2026.Ahead of the 2024 general election, Annamalai undertook a 1,700-km padayatra, covering all 39 parliamentary constituencies of Tamil Nadu. The yatra made the BJP's vote share spike from nearly 3% to over 11%.With the brass deciding to go with the AIADMK in the 2026 Assembly poll, against Annamalai's protests, the BJP's vote share crashed to 2.9%, similar to what it had in the 2021 state election."I felt Tamil Nadu is ready for a change. It is restless. It is very young. And I felt we were not listening to those voices. And it wants a new set of governance, new ideas. Probably, I felt we were not hearing it better," he said.That disagreement was also about how a national party understood a state from New Delhi."Seeing from an all-India perspective for a state, sitting in Delhi, it might not work all the time," Annamalai said, speaking to India Today TV's Akshita Nandagopal.He argued that regionalism and nationalism need not be opposites."I constantly believe there can be regional parties with a national character. It is not that national parties alone have to have a national character, and many regional parties can put their state first within a national framework. I felt there is a space in Tamil Nadu for that," added the 42-year-old leader.DECISIONS ARE BECOMING DELHI-CENTRIC: ANNAMALAI ON BJPThe sharpest explanation of why Annamalai became disillusioned with the BJP came when he was asked to assess his former party's prospects in Tamil Nadu."I believe right now the decisions are becoming Delhi-centric, so it is very unfortunate. That has to change, number one. And genuinely, they have to empower state-level leaders to take actions. It has to happen," Annamalai said.He cited a BJP core committee meeting held at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence as an example of precisely what he believed was wrong."You can't call a core committee [meeting] in Amit Shahji's residence. I felt so upset when the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party's core committee [meeting] happened in the house of the home minister. I think it is wrong," he said, adding, "The core committee of a state, any party, has to happen in Tamil Nadu, it has to happen on this soil, where decisions have to be made for this soil."YOU CANNOT HAVE THIS GUJARAT MODEL: ANNAMALAI TO BJPAnnamalai also targeted what he called the "Gujarat-centric model" of development, arguing that a national party needed to convince people across states that the Centre was treating them fairly. "And the Gujarat-centric model of Delhi development has to change a bit. And you can't have all the AI companies going there, all the companies going there, the 2030 Commonwealth Games going there, the Police Games going there, 2036 Olympic Games going to Ahmedabad," he said."You cannot have this Gujarat model of all India development. That has to break. People are watching," he said.For Annamalai, therefore, the break with the BJP was not presented as a break with nationalism or PM Modi. It was a break over where political power should sit, and whether Tamil Nadu's politics should continue to be shaped from Delhi."We are a strong region-focused movement, later a party, but we are nationalist at heart because we don't see any dichotomy," he said.Before joining politics, K Annamalai served as an IPS officer in Karnataka, where he earned the nickname "Singham" for his tough policing style. However, he resigned from the service in 2019 and entered politics by joining the BJP in 2020. He was quickly elevated to Tamil Nadu state president, where he raised the party’s visibility and vote share through aggressive campaigning.However, over time, differences emerged with the central leadership over strategy in Tamil Nadu, particularly his preference for building the BJP independently rather than allying with the AIADMK. These disagreements intensified after he was reportedly sidelined ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, leading him to formally resign in June 2026. He then launched a new political movement with a focus on grassroots leadership and Tamil Nadu's cultural identity, with former President APJ Abdul Kalam as its guiding light.On Monday, Annamalai pointed out why he walked away from the BJP. Among the issues he highlighted were Delhi-based decision-making, insufficient autonomy for state leaders, and an excessive concentration of national projects in Gujarat.- EndsPublished By: Sushim MukulPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 16:23 IST