Ahead of State president poll, Tamil Nadu BJP appoints district chiefs

CHENNAI: Ahead of the much-anticipated election of its new state president, the state unit of the BJP appointed presidents to 33 of its 60 and odd party districts on Sunday.

Election officer and vice president M Chakravarthy announced the appointment of the district presidents, based on the advice of national election in-charge Kishan Reddy. The list of district presidents did not include Chennai, Villupuram and Ranipet. For districts like Coimbatore, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar, Dindigul and Pudukottai, presidents were appointed for only one party district, though there was more than one party district.

The appointment is seen as a precursor to the ‘election’ of a new state president, which has been one of the talking points for a few days now. It is stated that the availability of at least half the district presidents was a requirement for electing/appointing the new party president. While there were strong rumours that incumbent K Annamalai could persuade the national high command into giving him another term at Kamalalayam, a few heavyweights like Tamilisai Soundararajan, Union minister L Murugan, both former state presidents, and national president of the BJP women’s wing Vanathi Srinivasan have also thrown their hat in the ring for the coveted post.

Apart from the senior leaders, a few newbies are also making bids for the chair. Appointment of the next state BJP president would also give an indication of BJP national leadership’s alliance plans for the 2026 Assembly polls, more so after principal opposition AIADMK cited Annamalai as the deal-breaker before snapping ties with the BJP ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary polls.

A few contenders, including Annamalai, have changed their approach towards the AIADMK of late, sensing the likely impact of the alliance compulsions in the state president election.