00:06All right, because you're watching To The Point, let's cut across to the latest visuals that are coming in from
00:10the Chennai airport.
00:11Anna Malai, ending phase of suspense, has quit the Bharatiya Janata party.
00:17He has landed at the Chennai airport.
00:20Grand welcome in Tamil Nadu for Anna Malai by his supporters.
00:24So clearly, seemingly a rousing welcome for Anna Malai at the Chennai airport.
00:30He was in the national capital earlier.
00:32He had tendered in his resignation to the president of the Bharatiya Janata party, Nitin Nabeel.
00:38I want to quickly cut across to my colleague Anaga, who's joining me on the phone line with more details
00:43that are coming in.
00:45The BJP, of course, calls it no loss for the political party.
00:49What next for Anna Malai right now?
00:51Well, he's just landed at the Chennai airport and received with a rousing welcome by his supporters in Chennai.
00:58These visuals coming in, a crush in terms of a crowd there.
01:02A lot of supporters lining up, waiting for Anna Malai.
01:06And this is a moment of reckoning as well, because Anna Malai has quit the BJP.
01:15What is he looking to start? Is this going to be a social movement, a political movement?
01:21I want to cut across right now to my colleague Anaga, who's joining us live.
01:25Anaga?
01:28Anaga, can you hear me?
01:30Well, in fact, Preeti, I just heard your question.
01:33In fact, you know, even though the state BJP claims that there really is no loss for the party,
01:41the reality is that in just about seven hours, we've been witnessing mass exodus of BJP leaders,
01:47mass exodus of BJP carders from the Tamil Nadu unit.
01:52In fact, Karur Nagarajan, who was the vice president of Tamil Nadu BJP, has decided to tender his resignation.
02:00Likewise, we've also been witnessing several micro-level leaders, smaller-level leaders,
02:06Karikartazan, party-level carder.
02:08They've all been quitting BJP ever since Anna Malai made this massive announcement.
02:13So, it is very clear now that a lot of grassroots-level party workers stuck onto BJP only because of
02:20Anna Malai.
02:21The fact that he was touted to be the next mass leader in Chennai, swayed away in Tamil Nadu,
02:26swayed away all the people with his oratory skills, the way he presented himself.
02:31And now the fact that he has quit the BJP has sort of bogged down the morale of a lot
02:36of skaters
02:37and therefore they've all en masse decided to quit the BJP and go ahead with the way that Anna Malai
02:43goes.
02:43So, he's going to launch a new political movement which will subsequently be converted into a political party.
02:49So, these leaders have decided to join Anna Malai's next political movement.
02:54It is a big blow, let's be very sure, for the BJP in Tamil Nadu.
02:58Because in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Anna Malai was the sole leader who made sure that BJP as a
03:04standalone party got 11% vote share.
03:07Now, in the year 2024, BJP was riding on the back of an anti-Modi wave in the year 2019.
03:13No, Anna Malai was the only leader who turned that over and did the unthinkable,
03:19which was to give the BJP in Tamil Nadu a double-digit vote share.
03:23That was the, you know, touted to be Anna Malai's biggest achievement in Tamil Nadu.
03:27The fact that he has quit the BJP in Tamil Nadu has turned out to be a big jolt to
03:32the party.
03:33The starting step for that is how we are witnessing a mass shortage of the party carders in Tamil Nadu.
03:41All right, Anagar, thank you for joining us with that update.
03:43Here's what you see on your television screen.
03:45Anna Malai, after tendering his resignation in the national capital, has reached Chennai.
03:50And rousing welcome for Anna Malai, where his supporters,
03:55those who thought that he made the right decision, not just his supporters,
03:59many from the Bharatiya Janata party who will now flock to Anna Malai's political movement.
04:05The BJP says no loss for the Bharatiya Janata party.
04:08Clearly, as elucidated by my colleague, Anagar, in the last couple of hours,
04:12there have been many resignations on multiple platforms of the BJP leadership in Tamil Nadu.
04:19Right from the top, bottom down, to the carders as well.
04:23Now, blow for the BJP.
04:26Immediately, yes, what does it mean for Anna Malai in the future?
04:30Well, he's launched a political movement.
04:32It's five years before any election in Tamil Nadu.
04:37And will he make a political movement reach fruition to a political party?
04:43What will be the time span of that?
04:46Well, for now, that's move number one for Anna Malai,
04:49quitting the BJP where he said that national political parties
04:54don't understand the language of Tamil Nadu.
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