BJP remarks trigger internal sparring ahead of TN seat sharing talks

Chennai: Differences surfaced within BJP in Tamil Nadu ahead of seat-sharing talks for the assembly election after senior leaders indulged in a war of words, triggering reactions from party cadres. Supporters of former state president K Annamalai criticised state vice-president Khushbu Sundar after she said the party's growth in the state could not be attributed solely to Annamalai's "mass appeal".

Responding to a question in an interview to a Tamil journal, Khushbu said elections cannot be won based only on a leader's popularity. "Whether an individual leader wins or loses is not important — the party's victory is what matters," she said.


While describing Annamalai, a former IPS officer, as a good orator who knows how to communicate the party's message to people, she said the BJP's rise in the state cannot be framed as "before Annamalai" and "after Annamalai".

Khushbu said the foundation for the party in Tamil Nadu was laid by leaders including L Ganesan, Tamilisai Soundararajan and Pon Radhakrishnan, who worked for years when the BJP was mocked for even polling fewer votes than NOTA. "If one wants to speak of phases, it would be more appropriate to say before Tamilisai Soundararajan and after Tamilisai Soundararajan," she said, referring to her tenure as BJP state president.

Responding to the remarks, Annamalai said differing views were natural in politics, but a party should continue to evolve. "A political party should not remain stagnant like stagnant water," he said. "If the same name from 1980 continues to define a party as ‘before and after', it would mean the party did not grow," he said, adding that BJP must steadily expand its base. "One day the party will come to power, and for that we need committed leaders," Annamalai said.

In another development, BJP state vice-president K P Ramalingam, who is also the election in-charge for western Tamil Nadu, took a dig at state president Nainar Nagenthran, saying the party leadership must give greater attention to organisational work in the run-up to 2026 assembly election.