Chennai: At noon on Friday, K Annamalai, an IPS-turned politician, announced the launch of a “movement” that would soon be converted into a political party to contest the next general elections in Tamil Nadu. And within the next seven hours, the former BJP State unit president, was overwhelmed with a response – 7,91,430 persons had registered on his platform ww.wetheleader.org and the number is bound to grow in the coming days and weeks.
The former Karnataka cadre IPS officer, known for his aggressive policing style that earned him the moniker ‘Singham’ after the famous movie series helmed by leading Tamil actor Suriya, has indeed come a long way in his short, six year political journey.
Annamalai, who quit IPS service after just nine years of service, is now eyeing an opportunity to be Tamil Nadu’s new challenger by donning a political role of a Tamil with a nationalist outlook, though a platform that would sit somewhere between the BJP and the Dravidian framework. As he laid bare his political plans, after exiting the BJP on “friendly” terms following successive meetings with top BJP leaders including his mentor B L Santhosh and Home Minister Amit Shah, it was clear Annamalai was keen on projecting himself as man who will usher in political change. “There will be no permanent MLAs, permanent MPs,” he declared making it clear a cap on tenures would be put in his to-be-launched political party so that the movement “flows like water” and more aspirants would get an opportunity to contest elections. Such aspirants would be put through a training course at his Coimbatore-based Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Centre for Ethics and Politics.
Seven years ago when he quit service, he returned to his home State of Tamil Nadu, to plunge into goat rearing and organic forming in addition to offering motivational talk. That was the time Tamil film superstar Rajinikanth had sensed an opportunity to take the political plunge in a post-Jayalalithaa period, when another stalwart Karunanidhi was confined to a wheelchair. Along the way, Rajinikanth had thrown a bombshell. “I will not be the Chief Minister. We shall find a young, educated, dynamic person for the job,” he had said.
Those in the know of the development then had said that “young face” would be Annamalai. The latter had neither confirmed nor denied it. However, on Friday, he dropped hints that would lead us safely to that very inference. “A day before I joined the BJP, Rajinikanth had called me,” he admitted adding but by that time he had decided to stick to the word he had given to B L Santosh.
Within a year of joining the BJP, he had been appointed party state president. Annamalai, had succeeded in positioning himself as a principal opposition force to the then ruling DMK. He basically knew how to be in the news cycle so he emerged as the lynchpin of the opposition while the real Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami was busy combating an internal strife within his AIADMK.
In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he had convinced Modi and Shah not to bring back the AIADMK into the NDA and instead allow him to lead the BJP alliance. He succeeded in taking the party’s vote share from a poor three per cent to 11 per cent and even pushed the AIADMK to a miserable position where its candidates forfeited deposits in seven seats. But in the larger scheme of the BJP’s things, this was hardly an achievement as the vote share did not lead to any seat conversion.
So a year later, Shah brought back the AIADMK into the NDA fold and also replaced Annamalai with a softer leader Nainar Nagenthran in the party’s state leadership. Since then Annamalai was sulking. It was not in his game to be the “regional manager” of a national party or just do the bidding of the high command.
Just ahead of the recent Assembly elections, he conveyed to the party leaders that its candidates did not have any change to win. He was proved right with only one BJP candidate winning and the vote share was back to three per cent.
With actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay, making a stunning electoral debut to take over the reins of the Tamil Nadu Government, Annamalai now sensed this was the right time to exit. The BJP leadership was reluctant, but he remained firm and has now ventured into a new path. The number of those joining his movement online is proof of his popularity. Not just that, some of the BJP’s second line leaders quit to join him.
He will indeed be a man to watch in Tamil Nadu’s politics in an era where the attempt is to cater to the Gen Z’s aspirations.
