Former cop and the BJP’s most prominent face in Tamil Nadu K Annamalai today met party president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and conveyed his decision to part ways on mutual and cordial terms.The 41-year-old firebrand leader, who quit the IPS to join the BJP in the state in 2020, had only a year ago drawn generous praises from Shah, who called the former’s contributions to the party unprecedented and promised to use his skills at the national level.Shah had famously paused a pre-Tamil Nadu election speech in Madurai in 2025 after the gathering erupted into frenzied pro-Annamalai chants when Shah mentioned his name.But much has changed over a year. While Annamalai has sought cordial separation from the party that he helped establish in Tamil Nadu, the BJP leaders said he was yet to resign formally.The former Tamil Nadu BJP chief may again meet Nabin before a final call is taken.Annamalai has been at variance with the party for a while now — first after he was replaced as state chief following pressure from the AIADMK and over the seats AIADMK handed over to the BJP to contest in the Assembly elections.The distance between Annamalai and the BJP became even more pronounced after the party was restricted to a single-seat win in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.Only last week, Annamalai had publicly asked the CBSE to withdraw its decision of implementing the three-language formula in schools from this academic year rather than the previously decided 2029-30.Sources close to Annamalai say the rise of TVK in the state and the BJP’s no show in the state has disappointed Annamalai, who wants to chart his own course and perhaps float another party some day.Annamalai also met BJP general secretary organisation BL Santosh to share his mind, but the BJP is still trying to convince him to stay.Annamalai is keen on a people’s movement which he later plans to frame as a political outfit. He also feels the TVK could gradually lose ground in the state, creating space for alternative movements.All this, however, is in the realm of possibilities so far. As for the BJP, the importance of Annamalai was evident from Amit Shah’s reference to him in April 2025.On April 11, 2025, when Annamalai was replaced as state unit chief with Nainar Nagendran, Shah had said, “The Tamil Nadu BJP has received a nomination for the post of state president only from Nainar Nagendran. As president of the Tamil Nadu BJP unit, K Annamalai has made commendable accomplishments.”“Whether it is carrying the policies of PM Narendra Modi’s policies to people or the programmes of the party from village to village, Annamalai’s contribution has been unprecedented. The BJP will leverage Annamalai’s organizational skills in the party’s national framework,” Shah had added.However, Annamalai has declined a central role. He wants to stay in Tamil Nadu and focus on his people.As such Annamalai is no stranger to mass movements.As the state BJP chief, he had led a famous padyatra across Tamil Nadu to spread the BJP ideology.He wants to pick up the threads now and has not forgotten how the BJP replaced him after the AIADMK’s E Palaniswamy framed the former’s ouster as a precondition to return to the NDA fold.The return didn’t help either the BJP, which won one seat in the recent Assembly elections, or the AIADMK, which won 47 against TVK’s 108 and the DMK’s 59.