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Back-to-back setbacks for Annamalai: Two TN BJP leaders quit party and join ADMK one after another!

By alagu, 07 March, 2023
Annamalai, BJP, ADMK, Tamilnadu

Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai's tenure is taking a tumultous turn unprecedently as the recent events have displayed that his leadership has been at stake. Unlike his precedessors, Annamalai, a former IPS officer, is building a political fortress through a league of controversial strategy and approach. Now, the results of his politics are being unleashed by some of his close aides, who are the centre of recent furores as they had switched their political side. 

From his autocrative political drive to belittling journalists, Annamalai has enough to why the dissenting leaders are against him. Tamil Nadu BJP's IT wing chief CTR Nirmal Kumar was one of Annamalai's confidantes. Nirmal Kumar had strongly led a campaign for Annamalai on social media and on last Sunday, he quit the BJP and has stauncly slammed Annamalai's leadership. 

In a statement that he uploaded on his Twitter account, Nirmal Kumar alleged that Annamalai had been engaging in surveillance against several BJP leaders. Nirmal Kumar further said, "There is nothing more demeaning than rejoicing at the surveillance of own party members and functionaries." He went on to say that under Annamalai's leadership, the party has been working against the interests of its own cadres and mistreating them. 

In his statement, Kumar wrote, "After one-and-a-half-years, I am resigning from all posts in the BJP. I worked for the growth of the party without any expectations. It is my responsibility to inform you the reason behind my decision to resign. I am pained to witness that the cadres of the party and Kamalalayam (state BJP's office) are getting treated like a business and are being sold brick-by-brick." Nirmal Kumar further alleged that the party is heading towards destruction due to the activities of a certain person (Annamalai) who is behaving like he has a mental illness. 

Kumar has also claimed that the BJP wasn't even 20 per cent of what it was in 2019, before Annamalai became president. He said that the Tamil Nadu BJP unit and the cadres are in danger because of the party's state leadership. Shockingly, he asked, "How is it possible to travel with a leadership that tries to cheat the cadres who trust them?". After throwing these allegations that were in a fashion of shaking Annamalai's leadership, Nirmal Kumar had officially joined ADMK, which observes a strong alliance with the BJP. 

Nirmal Kumar met ADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami and announced his new political affiliation on social media. While the BJP is yet to come out from the furore sparked by Nirmal Kumar, the recent development has suggested that BJP is in the starting point of the bad news. After Nirmal Kumar, another top official of BJP's IT wing Dilip Kannan has quit BJP and joined ADMK. Echoing Kumar, Kannan has also waged a similar attack on Annamalai. 

While Kumar left the party on Sunday, Dilip Kannan had announced that he is leaving the party on Monday. Kannan was in charge of the IT cell in the party's stronghold in Kanyakumari and he said that Annamalai was the reason why he decided to leave the party. In a statement, Kannan said, "When Annamalai became the head, he said he will create 500 leaders. It has been 20 months since he came to power. How many leaders he had created so far?." 

By claiming that Annamalai is fond of having media spotlight as he disallows anyone in the party to have it, Kannan said that Annamalai had been acting like a police officer and he spied on party workers. "90 per cent of the workers in the party will know whether I am speaking the truth or lying. You wait and watch how many more people are going to resign because of him", Kannan added and thanked all the party workers who came along with him. 

As Annamalai is watching the developments with strong backing from some of his associates who have come down hard on both Nirmal Kumar and Dilip Kannan, Dilip Kannan had on Tuesday - March 7 officially joined ADMK. He met ADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami at the latter's residence in Chennai. Along with Dilip Kannan, some of the BJP leaders have also joined ADMK. The ADMK has said that these leaders have joined the party under the arrangment of Nirmal Kumar. 

Amidst his intra-political clash with the senior leaders including with the party's organisation secretary Kesavavinayagam, Annamalai has been embracing what has become major setbacks for his leadership. Annamalai has already been in the scrutiny of the BJP's national leadership with several accusations from the senior leaders against him. With the recent events, Annamalai's political graph is plummeting and as he has been appointed as party's election in charge for Karnataka, the cadres in Tamil Nadu are speculating that there would a change in the state leadership. 

 

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