Former IPS officer Annamalai Kuppusamy, dubbed as Karnataka’s ‘Singham’ joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday.
He joined the BJP at party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao and Tamil Nadu BJP president L Murugan. A native of Tamil Nadu, Kuppusamy has spent 10 years in Karnataka. He resigned from the IPS in 2019.
Annamalai had announced in a Facebook live chat last year that he would be entering Tamil Nadu politics and was preparing to contest in the 2021 Assembly polls in the state. He also said he was waiting for Rajnikant to announce launch of his party.
Annamalai earned the reputation of a tough police after he dealt with 2017 riots in Bababudangiri in Chikkamagaluru and took on criminals, radicalisation and communal elements in coastal Karnataka region.
Hailing from Karur in Tamil Nadu, the former Karnataka cadre IPS officer has served as Deputy Commissioner of Police in Bengaluru South as well as Superintendent of Police in Udupi and Chikmagalur districts. After serving as a police officer for many years, Kuppusamy quit his job following the death of a close friend in 2019. He then took to organic farming in his hometown, and also started the ‘We the Leaders Foundation’ to help youth acquire better job opportunities.
He justified joining the BJP by saying, “In the past, I’ve said I didn’t want to get labeled with any party. But, over a period of time, I started feeling the country needed a political change as much as a social change. I felt the BJP was a natural fit for me because my principles aligned with them. They provide a platform to leaders based on merit. It’s a nationalist party with a larger vision for the country”
Kuppusamy said Dravidian parties had lost their identity, and family politics was deep-rooted. “(Dravidian parties) have forgotten why they emerged. Many have become family-run enterprises propagating family visions. I can’t imagine myself in a party like that, standing in a queue and expecting the top leader to bless me. A party should each leader the freedom to express their opinions. It should stand for a larger vision, and should put the common man at the centre of its narrative.
“I am a common man, I am a farmer’s son, I don’t have any backing, I don’t have a lot of money. Whatever I have saved is my hard-earned money through government service and my records speak about my honesty. So, I can’t join a Dravidian party where corruption is deep-rooted. Without expecting anything, a national party like BJP is welcoming me into their fold which shows their intention to bringing about change,” he added.
A month ago, Kuppusamy had said he was waiting for Rajikant to announce his plans, and would take a call on joining the actor’s party. When asked about his sudden change of plans, Kuppusamy said, “I have nothing against Rajnikant, let him come up with a plan. It is just that I am looking at a larger cause and direction.”
Asked about the 2021 Tamil Nadu elections, Kuppusamy said, “I will do whatever the BJP asks of me. I want to contest the 2021 elections and I want to represent the Tamil Nadu people, but the party will take a final call. It’s for them to decid
