Annamalai To Join Modi 3.0 Cabinet After BJP's Double Digit Vote Share In Tamil Nadu?

K Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu BJP Chief, has been reportedly called to Delhi by the party Delhi by the central leadership.

According to Tamil media reports, there is speculation that Annamalai could secure a position in Narendra Modi's cabinet. Should he receive an appointment, he would be required to step down from his role as Tamil Nadu BJP Chief, as per the party's one-post rule.

However, some reports claim that Annamalai might be replaced as the party chief as the high command is upset with him as the BJP failed to open account in Tamil Nadu. Narendra Modi had given a lot of focus to this state and travelled eight times during the campaign.

However, the BJP could not even win a single seat. More importantly, Annamalai himself lost in the Coimbatore seat.

Some reports claim that Annamalai might be given a role at the national level. Hence, he has been asked to attend the NDA meeting.

Nonetheless, critics say that the BJP, which had 3.66 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, secured 11.24 per cent in 2024, surpassing that of the Congress, which stood at 10.67 per cent. This places it as the third highest, trailing behind DMK's 26.93 per cent and ADMK's 20.46 per cent.

The BJP secured second place in nine of the constituencies, including Chennai Central, Chennai South, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Dharmapuri, Ramanathapuram, and Theni, the sole seat won by the AIADMK in 2019.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the BJP-led NDA's performance in South India and had a speech mentioning its performance in Tamil Nadu in his speech in the NDA meeting held at the Parliament on Friday.

In his speech which lasted over an hour, Modi highlighted the BJP's performance in Telangana and Karnataka despite the Congress being in power. "They came to power recently but have lost people's faith in a matter of months. At this occasion, we would like to congratulate the NDA team in Tamil Nadu. We have grown there. We did not win seats but the substantial rise in our vote share suggests a promising path forward for us."