As preparations are underway for PM Modi’s historic third consecutive swearing-in ceremony, sources suggest that prominent BJP leaders from southern India, including K Annamalai and Suresh Gopi, may be included in the new government’s Council of Ministers.
Sources indicate that once Annamalai is inducted into the Council of Ministers, a new individual will take over the role of Tamil Nadu BJP President. Annamalai, a 39-year-old former IPS officer, lost the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections in the Coimbatore constituency to Ganapathy Rajkumar of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He joined the BJP in 2019 and became the Tamil Nadu unit president in 2021.
The BJP’s efforts in South India culminated in a historic achievement with the party’s debut from Kerala in the 18th Lok Sabha election. Suresh Gopi, a famous Malayalam film industry action hero, won a landmark victory in the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 74,686 votes. He secured wins in five of the seven Thrissur assembly constituencies.
With a total of 412,338 votes, Gopi surpassed Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader and former agriculture minister V.S. Sunil Kumar, who received 337,652 votes.
However, Gopi emphasized that he was not aiming to become a Union minister, stating, “Please do not confine me to a room. As an MP, I can do the work of various ministries. I do not want to be a minister. There can be new revolutionary working platforms.”
“All I want is that when I go with a project for the people of Kerala with determination, the ministries concerned should implement it,” he said when asked which ministry he would prefer to head.