In another setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu, its state secretary, Amar Prasad Reddy, resigned from the party’s primary membership and all official responsibilities with immediate effect on Wednesday, 10 June. This brought an end to his 13-year association with the BJP.
Reddy’s resignation came days after K Annamalai, a key face of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, quit the party, saying that his goals are bigger and that he would launch a new political party with an inclusive agenda and fight the next polls in Tamil Nadu.
Announcing his decision in a post on X, Amar Prasad Reddy said, “I have resigned from the @BJP4India and will be joining Thalaivar @annamalai_k avargal in his journey ahead.”
Reddy also wrote to the state BJP president, highlighting key initiatives he was part of. But he also mentioned witnessing “painful differences with fellow state-level party colleagues on multiple occasions”.
He said, “Throughout this intense, high-stakes journey, despite encountering painful differences with fellow state-level party colleagues on multiple occasions, I consistently swallowed my personal pride, choosing to put the collective interest of the party and the people above all else.”
“But true loyalty is tested in fire, and I have paid a heavy personal price for mine,” he said, as per the letter posted by news agency ANI on X.
Reddy said that he “faced the brutal weight of state repression, spending 22 days inside the walls of a prison cell. I continue to face relentless legal targeting.”
“Whether it was the high-profile BJP Flag Pole case, tactical cases slapped on me during the Yatra, or the absurd legal harassment I faced simply for posting the Prime Minister’s photograph, I stood on the frontlines as a shield for this party, never flinching, never retreating,” Reddy wrote in his letter.
He added, “I can state with absolute pride and an untainted conscience that every single legal cross I bear today is exclusively due to my fierce defense of the party. Outside of my political activism, there is not a single personal, financial, or criminal blemish against my name.”
Asserting that his “ultimate allegiance belongs to the people of Tamil Nadu,” Reddy said, “I have realised that the soil of Tamil Nadu has a unique heartbeat. Its cultural, economic, and social aspirations are deeply distinct, demanding a fierce, uncompromised, region-first approach.”
“I have come to the understanding that this sacred duty to my people cannot be fully realized while bound by the structural mandates, constraints, and priorities of a national party framework,” he said.
Shedding light on his future plans, Reddy said his journey in public life will now be guided entirely by this calling, pursued with a renewed sense of freedom and independence.
He said, “For more than 100 days now, quietly and without seeking political mileage, our welfare initiative Amar Jana Seva has been continuously distributing food to the needy.
“Seeing the raw gratitude in the eyes of those we feed has reminded me of the purest form of public service. It is my firm intention to heavily expand this work, introduce broader grassroots public initiatives, and actively engage in political and social pathways that genuinely, fiercely, and uncompromisingly champion the rights, dignity, and future of Tamil Nadu,” he added.
He concluded his letter by paying “highest respect for the ground-level cadres who bled and marched alongside me.”
“As I step into this next chapter, I pray to Lord Venkateshwara to bless me and the beloved people of Tamil Nadu with the strength to navigate through the road ahead and to always take the right decisions for our collective destiny,” Reddy said.
Annamalai to launch new party, fight polls in Tamil Nadu
K Annamalai, who quit the BJP earlier this June, said his goals are bigger and that he would launch a new political party with an inclusive agenda and fight the next polls in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media address, Annamalai said: “I have quit BJP in a dignified manner, to usher in a new kind of politics.”
The goals are bigger and more people have to be taken along and “from today onwards, a new path, a new movement, a new political movement,’ he said, adding a new party would be launched which would fight the next polls in the state.
The new movement proposed to be launched must, from the foundation level, have new dimensions and a new perspective, he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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