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The Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit faced another high-profile exit on Wednesday as its state secretary, Amar Prasad Reddy, resigned from the party. Announcing his decision through a video in his X account, Amar Prasad Reddy said he would be joining Annamalai as part of his future political journey.
"I have resigned from the BJP and will be joining Thalaivar Annamalai avargal in his journey ahead." He detailed his contribution to the party since 2013 and said that he joined politics out of admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Reddy alleged that the Tamil Nadu BJP was controlled by four to five persons who would repeatedly contest the elections and lose seats. He also alleged that the party failed to give Annamalai adequate credit for increasing the vote share from 3% to 12% in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Reddy cited examples of BJP politician Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was made the Governor of Telangana even though she lost the seat during her tenure as the party’s state president, and L Murgan, who was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat despite losing elections. He said Annamalai was replaced as state president for alliance purposes.
"We are saying that we are not like Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). What is the difference between the Tamil Nadu BJP and DMK? The DMK has dynasty politics, while the BJP here is controlled by four or five people," Reddy said.
He said in future elections, the competition would be between Annamalai and Vijay, founder of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), and other political parties would become irrelevant.
Reddy said all the accusations against Annamalai would be answered in a press conference in the next two days.
A Times of India report, quoting Tamil Nadu BJP state secretary Nainar Nagendran said Annamalai's exit has "no impact" on the party. However, Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president Karu Nagarajan and 15 other BJP functionaries resigned from the party within hours of Annamalai's resignation.
This article was written by a student interning with TNM
