Nainar Nagendran, who defected from AIADMK, is set to take over as the president of Tamil Nadu BJP, succeeding firebrand former IPS officer K Annamalai. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has elected Nainar Nagendran as the president of its Tamil Nadu unit. Nainar Nagendran, who defected from AIADMK, is set to take over as the 13th president of the Tamil Nadu BJP, succeeding firebrand former IPS officer K Annamalai. According to reports, he was the only contender in the race as only he had filed the nomination for the post. Tamil Nadu is set for assembly elections next year, with the BJP trying to gain inroads in a state dominated by Dravidian politics. Nainar Nagendran will have a tough job to lead the party into the polls that could decide the future of politics in the state.
Who is Nainar Nagendran?
Nainar Nagendran is the BJP legislature party chief in the state of Tamil Nadu. He was also a minister in the AIADMK government from 2001 to 2006.
Born on October 16, 1960, in Vadiveeswaram, Nagendran started his career with the J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK, serving as a member of the legislative assembly from the Tirunelveli constituency. He went on to become a cabinet minister when Jayalalithaa was the chief minister from 2001 to 2006, holding the Electricity, Industry, and Transport portfolios.
Nagendran was excluded from the cabinet when AIADMK came back to power in 2011, and he left the party to join the BJP in 2017, soon after Jayalalithaa’s death in December of the previous year.
Nainar Nagendran served as the vice president of Tamil Nadu BJP from 2020 and won the 2021 assembly elections on the party ticket from the Tirunelveli constituency.
Nainar Nagendran has had his share of controversies. In 2006, an investigation revealed the accumulation of assets over his income when he was a minister. The Directorate of Vigilance filed a chargesheet against him, his wife, and four other relatives under the Prevention of Corruption Act for a ₹3.9 crore disproportionate assets case in 2010.
Nainar Nagendran was also accused of sending death threats against acclaimed Tamil lyricist and writer Vairamuthu in January 2018 for his controversial remarks on ‘Andal’. He had also said that there should be ‘no hesitation’ in killing people ‘who speak ill of Hinduism.’
