After Annamalai’s storm, my breezy tenure will take NDA to 2026 coast, says Nainar Nagenthran

CHENNAI: The newly elected state BJP president Nainar Nagenthran on Saturday said that while Annamalai’s style was like a storm, he could be a breeze and expressed confidence of victory for the NDA in the 2026 Assembly polls.

Outgoing chief Annamalai, in his address, said the goal is to dislodge the ‘evil shakthi’, the DMK, from power in the 2026 Assembly election. Referring to the party joining forces with the AIADMK and with Nagenthran all set to take over as state unit chief, he said the path to be journeyed is also pretty clear and declared that the choice of Nagenthran was unanimous to lead the party in the state.

In his speech, Nagenthran recalled the services of past presidents, including the outgoing chief Annamalai, L Murugan, Tamilisai Soundararajan, L Ganesan and CP Radhakrishnan and initiatives, campaigns undertaken by them, that led to the party’s growth in Tamil Nadu.

He exuded confidence that the NDA would go on to capture power in the 2026 State Assembly election and said the BJP alone, as part of the coalition, would win more than 40 seats. On him being elected BJP state unit president, Nagenthran said he would work responsibly and added that he still had apprehension. It was because Annamalai, be it interaction with journalists or other tasks, his style was unique. “Mine is different. If he (Annamalai) is a storm, I can only be a breeze,” Nagenthran said.

Initially, after joining the BJP about 8 years ago, Nagenthran said he was disappointed that he had not been given any important positions. However, after he attended training camps of the RSS he had a change of heart. Nagenthran praised the RSS founder KB Hedgewar and said no other organisation had grown, during the past 100 years, like the Sangh and also sang a song showering praise on Hedgewar. He hit out at the DMK regime and appealed to office-bearers to focus on booth-level work. He appealed to Annamalai to start wearing footwear again and said the foundation for the removal of the DMK regime has been laid by party leader Amit Shah on April 11, who announced an alliance with the AIADMK.

“The regime change is for sure, so please start wearing footwear from now onwards,” he said. Later, Nagenthran presented new footwear to Annamalai on the dais, and he resumed wearing footwear after a gap of over three months.