There is speculation in the political circles that the BJP is likely to name Nainar Nagendran, the party MLA from the Tirunelveli Assembly constituency, as the new state president of Tamil Nadu.
The political tapestry of Tamil Nadu might undergo a significant shift as the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday arrived in Chennai to hold talks with senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. Shah’s visit comes at a time when the state BJP unit is seeking to elect a new chief. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai had earlier said that he would not be a part of the race; however, media reports suggested that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leadership wanted to ease him out of the office of the state president unit to forge an alliance with the BJP for the 2026 Assembly election.
Notably, alliance speculations between the BJP and AIADMK started brewing after Amit Shah held deliberations with AIADMK general secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) last month in a sudden meeting in New Delhi. It seems that since both Annamalai and Palaniswami belong to the Gounder community of Tamil Nadu, the BJP may opt for a non-Gounder from another region. The party thinks that this may increase the party’s visibility and appeal beyond the caste and region.
There is speculation in the political circles that the BJP is likely to name Nainar Nagendran, the party MLA from the Tirunelveli Assembly constituency, as the new state president of Tamil Nadu. However, Vanathi Srinivasan, H Raja, Tamilisai Soundararajan and L Murugan are also some of the top contenders for the post.
The BJP, which had tried to gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu in the 1990s by forming an on-and-off alliance with Dravidian parties, could not gain seats or make its presence felt.
BJP’s growth in Tamil Nadu under Annamalai’s leadership
K Annamalai, who took charge as the state unit chief in 2021, gradually became an assertive and youth face of the BJP in Tamil Nadu with a focus on groundwork, visibility, and independent identity.
The AIADMK and the BJP fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls separately. The AIADMK contested the elections along with the DMDK and the Puthiya Tamilagam (PT), while the BJP led the alliance in the state for the first time. The AIADMK alliance received over 23% of the votes and drew a blank. The BJP, with allies such as PMK, TTV Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK) and GK Vasan’s Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), performed exceedingly well in the polls and received over 18% of the votes but failed to open its account. Several smaller outfits, including Puthiya Needhi Katchi (PNK), Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), Inthiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam (IMKMK) and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), contested on the BJP’s symbol of lotus. The BJP on its own garnered more than 11% vote share for the first time in Tamil Nadu.
However, the DMK-led alliance won all 39 seats in the state due to this division of votes. India TV Digital’s analysis reveals that if the AIADMK and the BJP alliances contested the 2024 polls together, then they could have won at least 13 Lok Sabha seats, including Arani, Chidambaram, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Kallakurichi, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Salem, Tenkasi, Tiruppur, Viluppuram and Virudhunagar.
In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the BJP, contesting in alliance with the AIADMK, secured a 2.6 per cent vote share and won 4 seats, marking a symbolic entry into the state Assembly.
In the 2022 Urban Local Body elections, the BJP made notable gains by winning 308 wards, including 11 in municipal corporations, reflecting its growing presence in Tamil Nadu.
Annamalai’s aggressive stance against the DMK and even the AIADMK led to tensions with traditional allies, especially the AIADMK. This eventually resulted in the AIADMK breaking its alliance with the BJP in late 2023, partly due to Annamalai’s remarks about AIADMK leaders like Jayalalithaa and MGR.
“With respect to the shape and form of the alliance in 2026 and the nature of the NDA, our leadership will take a call at an appropriate time,” Annamalai had said a couple of weeks earlier.
DMK’s dominance and strong views on NEET, Waqf Bill and NEP
DMK’s sweeping wins in 2019 (Lok Sabha) and 2021 (Assembly) have made it the dominant force in Tamil Nadu; this can act as a catalyst for opposition parties to join forces. The DMK has been openly critical of the BJP-led Centre on several fronts.
It has strongly opposed NEET, claiming its disadvantages for rural and underprivileged students in Tamil Nadu. Amid upheavals over the language row, it has unabashedly accused the Centre of “imposing Hindi”. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has repeatedly asserted his stance on NEP, claiming that it will completely destroy Tamil Nadu’s education growth.
On the Waqf Bill, the DMK said that the party would file a case in the Supreme Court against the Bill, which was passed in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Following the announcement, the opposition AIADMK expressed solidarity with ‘all steps’ taken by the DMK on the issue.
Recently, in a bold move, Stalin gave a miss to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration event of the Pamban bridge in Rameswaram and said he had informed the PM about his inability to attend the latter’s programme as he was inaugurating a government hospital in Ooty.
What happened in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls?
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP formed a pre-poll alliance in Tamil Nadu with several regional parties, including AIADMK, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), and other smaller parties. They contested the elections as a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA); however, despite the alliance, they were completely defeated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led coalition, with the BJP getting zero seats, with a vote share of around 3.7 per cent in Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK was able to win just a single seat of Theni.
