Former Tamil Nadu unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), K Annamalai’s scheduled visit to the Capital on Tuesday has stoked speculation about his possible exit from the party, although he has not made any official announcement on the purpose of his visit.There are media reports suggesting that Annamalai will float a new political outfit even as party leaders declined to comment. (@annamalai_k)The visit comes even as parties are finalising candidates for 27 seats in the Rajya Sabha (across 11 states) , elections to which will be held on June 18. In March, ahead of the last round of elections to the upper house, there was buzz that Annamalai would be fielded from either Andhra Pradesh or Maharashtra but that wasn’t to be.The BJP unit in Tamil Nadu is abuzz with speculation that the former IPS official will call on BJP president Nitin Nabin and union home minister Amit Shah before announcing his next move. There are media reports suggesting that he will float a new political outfit even as party leaders declined to comment.“He has been at loggerheads with a section of party leaders in the state and after the (assembly) polls that concluded recently, he has been indicating that he did not agree with the high command’s decision to ally with the AIADMK. He was pushing for the BJP to go solo,” said a state leader, speaking on condition of anonymity.In the assembly polls, which saw actor Vijay’s TVK sweep the election, the BJP which contested 33 of the 235 seats, won a single seat, down from the previous four with a vote share of 2.97%. Its ally, the AIADMK won 47 seats with a vote share of 21.21%.The leader said that if Annamalai were indeed to float a new party, it would be seen as an “anti BJP” front.“The BJP and the DMK follow a clearly identified ideology…TVK is a new entrant, which has cashed in on the anti incumbency against the DMK and found support among the youth. A new front will be seen as a front against the existing parties including the BJP. There is also no indication that his exit will lead to any exodus…” said a party functionary.People aware of the details said there were reportedly some differences between him and the current Tamil Nadu BJP president Nainar Nagendran.Annamalai resigned from the service to join the BJP in 2020, claiming he was motivated to join the party after observing the leadership qualities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Dubbed as ‘Singham’ (after the movie), for his tough cop image, he was appointed as the state president in July 2021. His tenure however, was marked by acrimony between leaders in the state unit and a rift with the AIADMK. The allies parted ways in 2023, coming together ahead of this years assembly elections in the state.“He always spoke about expansion of the BJP, but his brusqueness upset some senior leaders in the state unit. He was adamant that the BJP should not stay aligned with the AIADMK if it wants to carve out its space in the state’s politics, which many leaders did not agree with. Even ahead of the assembly polls, he had reiterated that BJP should contest on its own and double down on its Hindutva agenda,” the leader quoted above said.