Annamalai as CM candidate in Tamil Nadu? AIADMK leader explains why it broke alliance with BJP

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Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai as the chief ministerial candidate in the 2026 assembly elections," news agency ANI quoted AIADMK leader and former minister KC Karuppannan as saying at a party event in Erode. Karuppannan added that Annamalai's “criticism" of late AIADMK matriarch J Jayalalithaa was also the factor that led to the ties with the BJP being severed. “K Annamalai criticised the late former CM Jayalalithaa.

How can we tolerate criticism of our party's institutional leaders, so the AIADMK announced that they are withdrawing from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. We are committed to this decision," he said. Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels. Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!" Click here! The remarks come two after another AIADMK senior functionary, KP Munusamy, said that party chief Edappadi Palaniswami will lead a separate alliance of smaller state parties in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Munusamy also rejected the ruling DMK's charge that the party will patch-up with the BJP ahead of the 2024 polls. “Stalin is making such allegations because his party is jittery ever since we snapped ties with the BJP," he said. The AIADMK leader also denied the reports which claimed that the party's leadership, in a meeting with BJP president JP Nadda earlier this month, had called for Annamalai's removal as their Tamil Nadu unit chief.

"It is childish to even ask if such a large party like AIADMK would seek the removal of the party's state president. We will never commit such a mistake," India Today had quoted Munusamy as saying. Annamalai, the fiery BJP leader who has been leading its affairs in Tamil Nadu since 2021, has sounded critical of the