Former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has announced that his newly launched political movement, We The Leaders (WTL), will contest the upcoming local body elections in Tamil Nadu. The local body polls are likely to be held next year, with the dates yet to be announced.
Speaking to reporters, Annamalai, who quit the BJP and floated the WTL in June, said his organisation will seek to bring change. “Our leaders will work and garner your love and contest in the upcoming local body elections. We The Leaders will be the ‘maatram’ (change),” the 42-year-old former IPS officer said.
The move comes months after actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) disrupted Tamil Nadu’s longstanding DMK-AIADMK decades-long dominance in this year's Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. The result highlighted the space for a new political force, with Annamalai seeking to build his organisation around his own vision of change.
Annamalai’s decision to make the WTL contest the upcoming local body polls marks the organisation’s first step towards electoral politics, with the former IPS officer seeking to build a grassroots network before potentially contesting the 2031 Assembly election.
WHY DID ANNAMALAI QUIT THE BJP?
On June 5, Annamalai resigned from the BJP, citing disagreements with the party’s central leadership over its approach to Tamil Nadu and its decision to ally with the AIADMK for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections this year. At the India Today Roundtable Tamil Nadu in August, Annamalai said Tamil Nadu was ready for change and that decisions taken in Delhi did not always reflect its aspirations.
He launched the WTL the same day, initially as a grassroots political movement that he plans to develop into a full-fledged party. The focus is on grooming local leaders to address civic issues and build a political base from the ground up.
Annamalai led the BJP's Tamil Nadu unit from 2021 to 2025. He had joined the party in August 2020 after resigning from IPS the previous year.
In the 2022 Tamil Nadu local body polls, the MK Stalin-led DMK swept all 21 municipal corporations, 128 municipalities and 400 town panchayats, with the AIADMK emerging as the runner-up. The BJP, then under Annamalai’s leadership, contested independently and won 22 corporation wards, 56 municipal wards and 230 town panchayat wards.
ANNAMALAI EXPLAINS WTL'S SIGNIFICANCE
Earlier on Tuesday, Annamalai said WTL aims to groom selfless grassroots volunteers for leadership roles in civic bodies and ensure local issues are addressed. Criticising conventional parties for prioritising short-term electoral gains and party-hopping over sustained development, he stressed the need to build a network of leaders across Tamil Nadu.
“Just one Annamalai is like testing a single grain of rice to judge an entire pot. It will not work! We need leaders in all 234 Assembly constituencies, 12,525 panchayats and across hundreds of thousands of local representative positions,” he said.
He added that leaders often stop visiting people after elections, underlining the need for volunteers who remain accessible and work to resolve everyday problems.
“During elections, leaders campaign street by street. But will they visit our homes every day afterwards? Will they solve our basic problems? The answer is no. That is why we must develop local leaders who work selflessly, without expecting anything in return, to address these issues,” he said.
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(with inputs from PTI)