No future for Dravidian parties, Annamalai tells India Today Roundtable

Former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, who recently launched his own political outfit 'We The Leaders', declared on Monday that Dravidian parties have no future in the state. Speaking at the India Today Tamil Nadu Roundtable in Chennai, he said the DMK and AIADMK are 'living in a la-la land' and refuse to accept the result of the 2026 Assembly election, which delivered a decisive blow to both.

Annamalai directly attacked Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of former chief minister MK Stalin, saying dynastic politics will no longer work. 'With the dynast, whoever the dynast may be, you can present him in gold-plated clothes or on a golden platform, but people are not going to accept him. The ground has shifted,' he said. He added that unless the AIADMK undergoes 'internal re-engineering', it will not survive in Tamil Nadu.

Annamalai described the Vijay-led TVK as a 'fresh breath' for Tamil Nadu politics after its stunning debut victory. He positioned his grassroots initiative as an alternative pole that could engage with TVK in the coming decades. Annamalai said 'We The Leaders' would eventually become a party and contest the next Assembly election.