Nainar Nagendran

He left the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party in August 2017 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.^[1] He was one of several AIADMK figures to do so and soon after his move he was appointed a state-level BJP vice-president.^[2]

As an AIADMK candidate, Nagendran was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Tirunelveli constituency in the 2001^[3] and 2011 state assembly elections.^[4] He lost the seat by 606 votes in the election of 2006^[5] and in 2016, when the difference was 601. His opponent in the latter election was A. L. S. Lakshmanan of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a person he had beaten in 2011 by over 38,000 votes.^[4]

Nagendran served variously as a Minister for Electricity, Industry and Transport during the AIADMK-led government of 2001–2006. He was not a member of the cabinet during the AIADMK government led by Jayalalithaa from 2011 but he said it was her death and the subsequent rudderless situation in which the party found itself that caused his move to the BJP in 2017.^[6]

In 2021, as a BJP candidate Nagendran has been elected to Tamil Nadu state assembly from Tirunelveli constituency for the third time defeating the DMK candidate by a margin of 23,107 votes. In addition he has been also selected as the leader of BJP members in Tamil Nadu assembly.^[1]

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption of Tamil Nadu conducted raids in 12 places belonging to Nagendran in various parts of Chennai, Kochi, and his native place of southern Tirunelveli district.^[7] In 2006, an investigation revealed the accumulation of assets in excess of his income when he was a minister of Tamil Nadu. It also revealed that Nagendran bought properties, including gold jewellery and lands.^[8] A chargesheet was filed in December 2010 against Nagendran, his wife and four other relatives under the Prevention of Corruption Act for a ₹3.9 crore disproportionate assets case by the Directorate of Vigilance.^[9]

Nainar Nagendran has sent death threats against acclaimed Tamil lyricist and writer Vairamuthu in January 2018 for his controversial remarks on Andal. He has announced that BJP leaders are ready to award a cash reward of ₹10 crore^[10] if anyone slays and chops the tongue of Vairamuthu. He also said there should be no hesitation in killing even those who speak ill of Hinduism.^[11][12] This created a giant controversy in Tamil Nadu.^[13] Later, he was arrested together with Hindu Munnani state vice-president, V. C. Jayabalan, for provocative hate speech that would cause divisiveness among the people and posed a threat to national unity.^[14]

During the 2024 Indian general election, on 24 April 2024, the Election Commission’s flying squad recovered ₹4 crore at Tambaram railway station from a train traveling from Chennai Egmore to Tirunelveli. Three individuals were arrested in connection with the incident, including a staff member and a relative of Tirunelveli Lok Sabha candidate Nainar Nagendran.^{[15][16][17][18]}