Chennai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Nainar Nagendran as the new president of its Tamil Nadu unit, replacing K Annamalai, media reports said.

A three-time MLA from Tirunelveli, Nagendran’s immediate challenge will be to revitalise the party’s prospects ahead of next year’s Assembly election in a state where the BJP has traditionally struggled to gain traction, according to an NDTV report.

His task could be bolstered by the party's decision to rekindle its alliance with the AIADMK, Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party. 

Nagendran himself has roots in the AIADMK, having won the Tirunelveli constituency in 2001 and 2011 on its ticket before joining the BJP.

It is widely believed that the AIADMK’s return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance depended on Annamalai stepping down.

The former state BJP chief has had a combative relationship with the Dravidian party, questioning the alliance and allegedly making disparaging remarks about its iconic leaders, including former Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa and MG Ramachandran.

However, BJP insiders told NDTV that Annamalai’s exit from the post should not be seen as a reprimand. Instead, they said, it is part of a broader strategy to grow the party’s presence in the state, and he may be offered a larger role either within the party or at the national level.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while confirming the renewed alliance with the AIADMK, praised Annamalai in a post on X, calling his work in Tamil Nadu “commendable” and instrumental in strengthening the BJP in the region.

Shah also dismissed concerns that reviving the alliance might hinder the BJP’s ambitions in the state.

“AIADMK had no conditions and demands (and) we will not interfere in their internal matters... this alliance is going to be beneficial for both NDA and AIADMK,” he said.

The BJP and AIADMK had previously joined forces in the 2019 general election and the 2021 Assembly polls, but the partnership yielded poor results.

In 2019, the BJP failed to win any seats while the AIADMK secured just one of Tamil Nadu’s 39 parliamentary constituencies. The DMK-led alliance swept the rest.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, the DMK alliance claimed 159 of the state’s 234 seats—an increase of 61 from the previous cycle.

The BJP and AIADMK split in 2023, largely due to Annamalai’s remarks, which fuelled speculation that the BJP was aiming to grow independently in the state.

That strategy faltered in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where neither the AIADMK-led bloc nor the BJP and its new regional allies managed to win a single seat in Tamil Nadu.