K Annamalai may resign as Tamil Nadu BJP chief for caste balance in AIADMK alliance

As per a report by The Indian Express, Annamalai may step down to balance the caste equations in the BJP-AIADMK alliance, which is looking to take on the ruling DMK-Congress combine in the assembly elections due to be held next year.

The BJP does not want the faces of both the constituents in the alliance to be a Gounder if the parties fight together in the 2026 polls, the daily reported.

Both Annamalai and AIADMK head E Palaniswamy belong to a powerful backward community and the two also hail from the same western Kongu region.

The decision was conveyed to Annamalai after Palaniswamy called on Union Home Minister and BJP top leader Amit Shah in New Delhi last month.

Though he might be sacrificed keeping the alliance equations in mind, the BJP is keen to utilise Annamalai, whose aggressive leadership gave prominence to the party in the state, in the long term.

Annamalai is believed to have loyalty to the party, which has become visible in the southern state hugely dominated by the regional parties.

"He conveyed that he doesn’t have any second thoughts regarding his commitment to the party, and is even ready to work as a mere cadre," a BJP leader told The Indian Express.

The new equation, if it is formed, comes amid the bitter Centre-State tussle over the three-language formula under the new National Education Policy (NEP) as well as the delimitation issue.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin has accused the BJP of trying to 'impose Hindi' on the southern state in the guise of a National Education Policy and called it a plan to develop Hindi rather than India.

Stalin has fired sharp attacks on Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, whom he accused of 'blackmail' by threatening to withhold funds and this week said was "arrogant" and "acting like a king".