Chennai, Apr 12 (UNI) A former AIADMK strongman and BJP Legislature Party leader
Nainar Nagendran was officially announced as 13th President of the Tamil Nadu BJP
on Saturday evening.
His election coincided with the revival of ties with the main opposition AIADMK for the
2026 elections,which was announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Mr Nagendran was elected unopposed to the post and it was officially announced today
by senior BJP leaders including Union Minister G.Kishan Reddy, who is in-charge of
Tamil Nadu, Mr Sudhakar Reddy, outgoing President K Annamalai and others after the
elections for the posts of BJP National General Council members at a private marriage
hall at Vaanagaram.
Mr Kishan Reddy and other leaders also handed over the certificate electing him as
the next President of TN BJP, as shouts of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" by a large number of
BJP cadres, rent the air.
Mr Nagendran, who joined the BJP in 2017, was elected to the State Assembly from
the southern Tirunelveli in the 2021 polls and emerged as the front runner to succeed
Mr Annamalai who chose to stay away from the race for the elections to the post.
During the filing of nominations yesterday at the BJP headquarters 'Kamalalayam',
Mr Nagendran was the only candidate to have filed the papers for the post and was
declared elected unopposed.
His candidature was proposed by top BJP leaders including Annamalai, senior
leaders like Union Minister L Murugan,former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan,
BJP MLA Ms Vanathi Srinivasan, H Raja and others.
As the new BJP President, Mr Nagendran has a major task of guiding the NDA
by galavanising the grassroot workers along with his parent party AIADMK, which
would be heading and leading the alliance in the elections, with the sole aim of
unseating the ruling DMK from power.
Mr Nagendran has a wide political experience, having been elected to the State
Assembly thrice.
He was elected for the first time in 2001 from the Tirunelveli seat and served in
the J.Jayalaithaa-led AIADMK Cabinet handling the key portfolios of Transport,
Industries, and Electricity.
Though he was re-elected from Tirunelveli in 2011, when the AIADMK returned
to power again, he was not accommodated in the Cabinet.
He had lost the 2006 and 2016 Assembly polls by a narrow margin, before winning
for the third time in 2021 on BJP ticket and elected as the Legislature Party Leader.
Mr Nagendran had also unsuccessfully contested in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha
elections from Ramanathapuram and Tirunelveli seats respectively.
UNI GV 1745