New Delhi: Annamalai Kuppusamy (K Annamalai), who not long ago BJPIts biggest face and its biggest hope in Tamil Nadu has left the party. The former IPS officer, who joined the BJP in 2020 and led the party in the state like never before, is all set to form his own “regional organisation” as he feels being part of a national party “hinders his development”.“According to reports, Annamalai is in Delhi and has thanked all his party chiefs, including Amit Shah, while submitting his resignation, although a formal announcement is yet to be made. Some in the BJP expect a U-turn, but sources close to Annamalai claim that the former IPS officer has moved on and wants to “put his plans into action.”Annamalai has also submitted a detailed report analyzing what went wrong for the BJP in the 2026 elections and has reportedly told top BJP leaders how she was “sidelined” in the party. While the formal separation is happening now, the ground for this separation was laid ahead of the 2026 assembly elections when the BJP abandoned Annamalai’s vision for the party in Tamil Nadu.So, what went wrong?To understand this, let us step back and look at Annamalai’s spectacular rise in the BJP.The BJP, which had been struggling to find its place and relevance in Tamil Nadu politics for years, found a ray of hope in Annamalai. The former IPS officer, who left his job in May 2019 and was working for social welfare through his NGO “We the Leader Foundation”, wanted to enter politics to “bring about a change in the system”. Interestingly, BJP was not Annamalai’s first choice as he wanted to start his political innings with Rajinikanth. But when the superstar’s political plans failed, Annamalai chose the BJP – a party which he said “had a nationalist outlook and a merit-based platform.”Annamalai joined BJP in 2020. Although he lost the 2021 assembly election from Aravakuruchi constituency, he helped the BJP win 2 seats in the western region of the state.The BJP immediately realized Annamalai’s potential and within a year he was made the state party chief. Once firmly in power, Annamalai led his ‘En Man En Makkal’ (My Land, My People) march across Tamil Nadu in 2023, taking the BJP’s popularity to a new high. There was such optimism and hope in the exercise that the top national leadership of the BJP graced it. While Amit Shah inaugurated the 200-day padayatra covering all 234 assembly constituencies in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended it with a massive public address in February 2024.The publicity and hope generated by Annamalai’s padayatra may have convinced the BJP to part ways with its ally. AIADMK And choose to contest alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. The highlight of Annamalai’s political aggression was his sharp and vocal criticism of Dravidian politics and its symbols. Despite the alliance with the AIADMK, he did not spare their leaders either – a factor that ultimately played a significant role in the alienation between the allies. Annamalai’s padayatra took the BJP’s vote share in Tamil Nadu to a record high of 11.38% in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This was a huge jump from the 3.62% figure the party got in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But unfortunately, the increase in votes did not translate into seats and the BJP could not open its account for the second consecutive Lok Sabha election. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won 1 seat with 5.56% vote share.This probably prompted the BJP to rethink about its ties with the AIADMK and despite Annamalai’s very strong objections – the alliance was revived ahead of the 2026 assembly elections in the state. And it sidelined the former IPS officer, who was later removed as state BJP chief to appease the party’s Dravidian ally.AIADMK sets conditions for BJP in 2026 assembly elections. The regional party ensured that Annamalai was not only removed from the post of state BJP chief but also had no role in deciding candidates for the assembly elections. Annamalai stayed away and did not contest the 2026 assembly elections. Complete dominance of Annamalai in 2023 was transformed into almost complete isolation in 2026. However, on May 4, when the results were declared, Annamalai was proved right and the BJP’s alliance experiment with the AIADMK failed miserably. The saffron party could win only one seat in the assembly. But the former state president still remained silent.Annamalai’s first voice of dissentWhen Annamalai openly hit out at the Union Education Ministry over its notification making three languages ​​compulsory for Class IX students for the first time in six years, it was the first clear sign of an impending rebellion and led to speculation about her possible exit from the party.On May 15, CBSE issued a notification to all affiliated schools to introduce the third compulsory language for class IX students from the current academic year, pushing back the earlier scheduled deadline of 2029-30.Responding to the move, Annamalai wrote on Expecting a ninth grade student to learn a new language in such a short period of time will only put pressure on children and affect their overall learning outcomes.“The fact that he decided to make public his differences with the BJP on language policy, which has always been a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu, was a sign that he wanted to chart his own course.Although Annamalai may not have openly rebelled, his move to resign does not come as a surprise. Ultimately, his efforts to ensure a distinct identity for the BJP in Tamil Nadu were ruined when the Delhi leadership insisted on an AIADMK alliance in the 2026 assembly elections.An experiment aborted too early?For the BJP, Annamalai’s exit would mean a fresh start in Tamil Nadu. While Annamalai was not leading the state BJP in either of the two assembly elections held during his tenure, his active presence had energized the party. Annamalai was made the BJP Tamil Nadu chief after the 2021 assembly elections, in which the BJP won 4 seats with 2.62% vote share. He stepped down as head of state in 2025, a year before the 2026 assembly elections in which the party’s tally slipped to 1 with a marginal increase in vote share at 2.99%. With Annamalai’s exit, the BJP will be wary of a possible exodus of local leaders and workers from the party.The fact that the people of Tamil Nadu voted overwhelmingly for budding politician Vijay and his party TVK shows that there was room for a new experiment in Tamil Nadu. BJP started on that path with Annamalai but abandoned it midway. Though Annamalai is nowhere close to Vijay’s fan following in the state, the truth is that the former IPS officer, often fondly referred to as “Singham”, had enjoyed a good amount of popularity among the youth of the state. No wonder the “what if” question will continue to haunt both the BJP and Annamalai.But for the BJP – it was perhaps a Hobson’s choice – to go ahead with its Annamalai experiment or join hands with its old ally, the AIADMK, and form an anti-DMK front. In the end it chose its old ally, leaving Annamalai no option but to leave the alliance. Ironically, the same aggression that made him popular within and within the BJP became the reason for his leaving the party.

Before swearing in Karnataka, BJP shared AI video making fun of DK Shivakumar (Image- BJP Karnataka X)

ahead of congress leader DK ShivakumarAs the swearing in ceremony of Chief Minister of Karnataka BJP launched sharp attack on Wednesday congress government Through a series of posts on X, Criticism and allegations of failures in governance were made.In an AI-generated video shared late on Tuesday night, BJP Karnataka showed DK Shivakumar traveling in an SUV on water-logged roads.In another post, Karnataka BJP accused the Congress government of neglecting farmers ahead of the monsoon season. The party alleged that the state government has failed to ensure supply of adequate and quality seeds and fertilizers, while also not compensating farmers who faced crop loss due to rains.“The Congress government in the state has completely neglected the farmers. It has completely failed to provide adequate, quality seeds and fertilizers to farmers preparing for the monsoon,” the BJP said.It further reads, “For Congress, farmers are just garbage; until the government with such mentality is removed, farmers will not get peace.”The BJP also targeted the Congress government over the welfare of Dalits and alleged that it won votes from the community but failed to address their concerns after coming to power.BJP Karnataka accused the government of adopting “anti-Dalit” policies and neglecting infrastructure and development in Dalit communities, saying, “Coming to power by securing Dalit votes, only to push the same Dalit community into the most miserable condition is the hallmark of this Congress government.”DK Shivkumar will take oath as CM today64-year-old Congress leader DK Shivakumar will take oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka today. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at around 4 pm in the Glass House of Lok Bhavan, where Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot will administer the oath of office and secrecy.A group of ministers along with Shivakumar are expected to take oath in the first phase of new cabinet formation.Shivakumar was elected Congress Legislature Party leader last week, days after outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stepped down following instructions from the party high command.

New Delhi: The tender process has been left behind CBSEThe large-scale On-Screen Marking (OSM) project has come under more intense scrutiny after procurement records revealed that Hyderabad-based Koempt Edutech Pvt Ltd had narrowly lost out to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the technical evaluation before gaining a decisive lead through extremely low financial bid.The scoring pattern has raised questions among some procurement observers whether the tender design disproportionately benefited companies with narrowly defined prior examination-scanning experience compared to companies with larger technology and systems integration capabilities.The contract involved scanning and digital evaluation of approximately 9.9 million answer sheets of Class XII under the CBSE’s fully digitized evaluation system introduced this year.Tender documents reviewed by TOI show that Coempt scored 91 out of 100 in the technical evaluation, just ahead of TCS, which scored 89 points. Both companies were closely matched across several parameters including certification, manpower, security compliance, disaster recovery systems and solution architecture.The main difference emerged in the “previous experience” category, which specifically related to the scanning and delivery of subjective answer scripts for digital assessment.According to the technical evaluation sheet, despite scoring high marks in the technical presentation and live demonstration section, Koempt received full marks, while TCS received zero marks in that category.Koempt also received full marks for its experience in handling large-scale digital assessment projects and managing multiple assessment centers simultaneously. However, TCS got maximum marks under the turnover criteria due to its larger financial scale and operational efficiency.An even bigger difference was revealed in the financial bids.According to the bid documents, Coempt quoted rates ranging between around Rs 24.8 to Rs 25.7 per answer booklet, depending on the processing volume, while TCS quoted between Rs 53 and Rs 65 per booklet in the same categories.The estimated bid price for TCS was around Rs 384.6 crore compared to around Rs 951.3 crore for Koempt – a difference of around Rs 566 crore.Under the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) model adopted by CBSE, the weightage of technical scores was 70% while the weightage of financial bids was 30%. “The bidder with a slight technical edge and a significantly lower bid gets a big advantage when the weighted scores are combined,” said a former central government procurement official.The procurement process has also attracted attention as CBSE did not finalize a qualified vendor in the two earlier tender rounds before modifying some technical conditions in the subsequent request for proposal issued in August 2025.However, officials rejected suggestions that Koempt was favored.CBSE sources said the evaluation was done strictly as per the norms prescribed in the tender document and under the general financial rules governing public procurement. Officials argued that the board had limited discretion in the technical round and that Koempt met all the eligibility requirements set out in the bid conditions.“The company which met the technical requirements and achieved the highest combined QCBS score was selected as per QCBS provisions,” an official said.The tender has acquired wider significance amid growing scrutiny of CBSE’s digital assessment ecosystem and questions over the pace of rolling out the OSM system nationwide for the 2026 board exams.

MUMBAI: Cans or glass bottles, beer or cold beverages – companies are losing their cool over rising costs rather than keeping their spirits up amid El Nino-induced harsh weather this summer, leading to higher demand. The war has affected companies on two fronts – first, soft drink makers like Coca-Cola that use aluminum cans (for Diet Coke and 300 ml cans are sold more in India) are facing supply disruptions as the bulk of imports of such cans come from West Asia. Even packaged coffee companies, some of which sell smaller 230 ml cans, have the same problem. For example, D2C coffee brand Sleepy Owl is tapping Southeast Asian markets for aluminum cans, but costs have increased by about 15% so far. Moreover, in view of the high demand, procurement of supplies is also taking time. CEO Ajay Thandi said, “Going forward, there will be no option but to pass this increase on to consumers. While the cost of glass bottles is lower for us, logistics is an issue.” He said cans constitute 25-30% of the company’s portfolio.As far as beer makers are concerned, the cost of both aluminum cans and glass bottles has increased, despite nearly 80% of the industry’s supplies being locally sourced. This is because the war affected production at the ground level just as the industry built up inventory, creating a backlog that has yet to be reduced. Vinod Giri, director general of the Brewers Association of India, said manufacturing operations were hit after the LPG shortage – can suppliers have increased prices by 15%, while the cost of glass bottles has increased by 20%. “We have no problem with the supply of cans because we have a global network…we There is an inflation issue, there is a cost issue,” Vivek Gupta, MD and CEO of United Breweries, which makes Heineken and Kingfisher beers, said in a recent earnings call.Some old stocks of 300 ml Diet Coke cans priced at Rs 40 are still available in the market, but distributors expect the new stock to be priced at Rs 10 or more, said Dhairyasheel Patil, president, All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF). Queries sent to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo India did not elicit any response.