Still very confident, BJP will form coalition govt in Tamil Nadu in 2026, says Annamalai

CHENNAI: Chennai: BJP state president K Annamalai on Wednesday said that he was still feeling very confident that his party will form the first-ever coalition government in Tamil Nadu in 2026.

Addressing reporters at Kamalalayam, the state BJP headquarters, Annamalai said that there was no doubt about the growth of the BJP in Tamil Nadu but added that they could unfortunately not achieve the goal of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to send MPs from Tamil Nadu this time. "The people say the BJP needs to work harder. We need to work more to bring nationalism beyond the momentary rule in Tamil Nadu. Our goal was the big goal and we worked on it," he said.

The saffron party leader also remarked that the AIADMK has secured just a few votes to secure their deposit in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency while the BJP has made a record in Coimbatore, an AIADMK stronghold.

He said that he was very confident that the BJP would form the first-ever coalition government in Tamil Nadu in 2026 and claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu are giving a message that they have started ignoring Dravidian politics.

Responding to AIADMK leaders' comments, the former IPS officer said, "Earlier, they said that our party is competing with NOTA. Now, they say if there was an alliance, we could have won 6 to 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Why didn't they say this earlier? It took so long to say this."

Meanwhile, commenting on the BJP's numbers, Annamalai said that the party has more MPs than the Congress, the DMK, and other parties.

He also dismissed the charges against the Odisha BJP unit and said that no one has insulted the culture of Tamil Nadu anywhere.

Reacting to Seeman-led NTK's performance, Annamalai said that even though the BJP and the NTK have differences in terms of political ideology, the NTK's performance should be appreciated.

Responding to DMK MP Kanimozhi's comment demanding his resignation as BJP state unit president, Annamalai said, "Perhaps if Kanimozhi joins BJP, I will consider resigning."

BJP secures more votes in Stalin's Kolathur

Meanwhile, the BJP informed that it has secured more votes in Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin's Kolathur assembly constituency this time.

According to ANS Prasad, BJP state spokesperson and Chennai North Lok Sabha constituency in-charge for the party, BJP candidate RC Paul Kanagaraj has secured more than 25,000 votes in Stalin's constituency with the DMK losing over 10,000 votes from there.