Annamalai joined BJP because Rajinikanth didn't form party: Congress leader

COngress MP Karthi Chidambaram said on fri that former Tamil Nadu BJP chairman K Annamalai may feature only if united the saffron party as Tamil superstar Rajinikanth did not launch a political outfit.Annamalai resigned from the BJP earlier this week and announced his own political movement, “against cult politics,” on Friday, which he said would eventually turn into a political party and contest the next assembly elections in the state.Calling it a “gutsy move”, Karthi Chidambaram said that the former IPS officer had “realised” that the BJP has “very limited acceptance” in Tamil Nadu.“See, this is something which was in the offing for a long time. Annamalai has realised something which I have always known—that the BJP has very limited acceptance and purchase in Tamil Nadu. And if somebody wants to move ahead in politics, the BJP is not the right vehicle. It has taken Annamalai five to six years to realise that…It's a gutsy move; I wish him well,” Chidambaram told ANI.The Congress MP said that K Annamalai may have joined the BJP only because Rajnikanth did not form a political party.“I think he joined the BJP only because Mr Rajinikanth did not form a party, and Mr Annamalai doesn't come from the Sangh Parivar—he's not from the RSS, and he's not an ideologue in the Hindutva sense. He was only a lateral entrant to the party, and after five years, he has realised that this party has no future in Tamil Nadu, and he himself has had very little success within the party,” he said.Annamalai’s new political movementK Annamalai announced a new political movement that would later evolve into a party contesting the next assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, due in five years. He said the southern state wanted change and asserted that his party could deliver it.Listing the reasons for his BJP exit, Annamalai said he had informed the leadership of his decision in December last year, but was asked to wait till the 2026 April-May assembly elections were over.“It was a great conflict whether I am a BJP person or a Tamilian. I told the party on December 4, 2025, that I am going to resign. The party asked me to finish the elections and then go,” Annamalai said, according to news agency ANI.Annamalai's connection with his Tamil roots was also emphasised in the resignation letter he sent to the BJP leadership on June 2. He also emphasised that he had expressed his “disagreements” with the leadership over the past 18 months and said he doesn't think his views align with the party anymore.The former cop, known as “Singham”, noted that the people of Tamil Nadu always sought change, which sometimes arrived, but never stayed.“National parties never spoke the language that people in Tamil Nadu understood. I have tried to change this belief and also found reasonable success despite multiple roadblocks, barriers and obstructions from both inside and outside,” Annamalai said.Kuppusamy Annamalai became a big symbol for the BJP in Tamil Nadu after he was fielded as a candidate in the 2021 elections. Despite a poll loss, he was appointed Tamil Nadu BJP chief and held the post for three years before stepping down and being replaced by Nainar Nagendran. One of his chief disagreements was the BJP's alliance with the AIADMK and essentially playing second fiddle.