TASMAC ban, temple autonomy: Annamalai opens up on alliance with AIADMK, lays down BJP's Tamil Nadu roadmap

For years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu has been a junior partner in the alliance with the AIADMK. Now, state BJP president K Annamalai suggests that era is over. “When you’re in an alliance with a major Dravidian player (AIADMK), you will not have a voice of your own. And it has happened multiple times in Tamil Nadu,” Annamalai said. He pointed out that while the BJP has consistently pushed for policies like the three-language formula, NEET, and the new education policy, the Dravidian parties have taken the opposite stand. “Still, we would be in an alliance. So, where is the voice of a party?”  

Annamalai acknowledged that every time the BJP won a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Tamil Nadu, it was with a Dravidian alliance. “We have to be humble enough to accept it. When we had four MPs—historic high—in 1998-99, it was an alliance with a Dravidian party. Again in 2021, alliance with a Dravidian party,” he said while speaking with TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla at ThinkEdu 2025.

But, he argued, the BJP cannot continue as a junior partner contesting only a fraction of seats. “Tamil Nadu has got 234 assembly seats. You contest less than 10% — which is 20 seats. In the last Lok Sabha polls, you contested five out of 39. Then where is your voice?”  

Annamalai sees the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections as a turning point. “Only when you contest alone, when you refuse to go with an alliance just because you want seats, only then will you have a voice of your own,” he said.  

According to Annamalai, the BJP’s agenda is now clear. “We are presenting an alternate way of how Tamil Nadu’s economy should grow. And we state in 2026, when the NDA alliance comes to power in Tamil Nadu, we will close TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited) shops in a phased manner in three years,” he declared.  

He also took a swipe at both AIADMK and DMK on religious policies. “We want to remove a certain act that is governing the Hindu temples. Both the Dravidian parties don’t want to close TASMAC shops. They don’t want to take away the act which is governing Hindu temples,” Annamalai stated.  

Tamil Nadu, traditionally a two-party state, could see a four-way or even a five-way fight in 2026, according to Annamalai. “Each of those players on the ground might be carrying 8% or more vote share. For the first time, Tamil Nadu might see in the first-past-the-post democracy model that even with 23% vote share, a party could form the government,” he said.  

For the BJP, he believes, the last two to three years have been about finally finding its voice. “At least when people ask, ‘What is BJP?’ they know BJP stands for this, this, and this. People might have different viewpoints on what we speak, but we are getting our voice heard at the village level, at the grassroots level,” Annamalai said.  

With 2026 shaping up as a high-stakes battle, the BJP is making it clear: alliances of the past will not define its future in Tamil Nadu.