BJP appoints Coordination Committee to run Tamil Nadu unit in the absence of Annamalai

CHENNAI: Senior party leader H Raja, who has a penchant for stoking controversies, was on Friday appointed as the convenor of a six-member Coordination Committee to run the Tamil Nadu BJP for three months with state unit chief K Annamalai proceeding to London to pursue a fellowship.

Annamalai, who was appointed the state BJP chief in July 2021 within 11 months of his joining the party, left for London on August 29 to attend the three-month long Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence programme, which runs between September and November.

In an announcement, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said the coordination committee will be headed by H Raja, while M Chakravarthy, Prof P Kanagasabapathi, M Muruganandam, Prof Rama Sreenivasan, and S R Sekhar as members.

While Chakravarthy and Kanagasabapathi are vice-presidents, Muruganandam and Sreenivasan are general secretaries and Sekhar, the state unit’s treasurer.

“The Coordination Committee will hold discussion with the state core committee and will take decisions about party activities. Each member of Coordination Committee will look after activities in one or two zones as to

be decided by the state president and convener of the Coordination Committee,” Singh said in the statement.

Raja, a veteran party leader and ex-MLA, is known for stoking controversies and picking up fights with journalists at press conferences. His views on Hindutva and his stand on the Dravidian Movement had often landed him in trouble in Tamil Nadu.