Capping his seven-year journey with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), resignation of the party’s former Tamil Nadu chief K. Annamalai was formally accepted by party chief Nitin Nabin on Friday (June 5, 2026). As efforts to retain him in the saffron folds failed, the IPS-turned-politician is set to launch his own regional party. His exit has been long in the making since he egged BJP to split with AIADMK and contest Lok Sabha polls solo in 2024. 

“No one can put a gun to one’s head and force a person to remain in a party. I will stay if I like or I will quit if I do not and continue doing farming,” Mr. Annamalai had proclaimed in November last year as BJP rekindled alliance talks with the AIADMK, seven months after Mr. Annamalai was replaced by Nainar Nagendran as BJP Tamil Nadu president. 

The last high-profile exit from the BJP was in November last year when former Union Minister R.K. Singh was suspended after he criticised the BJP’s choice of candidates for Bihar State elections, pointing out their criminal background and corruption. After being handed a six-year suspension, Mr. Singh quit the party has since then promised to launch a Bihar-focused party which will comprise ‘honest, educated and caste-free’ individuals.

Through the years, several high-profile leaders have quit the BJP to launch their own parties. A deeper look at their journey shows that most have either disbanded and rejoined the party or merged their outfits with BJP. A few have jumped ship to other parties.

From Jana Sangh to BJP

The genesis of BJP itself is from the split of Janata Party in 1980. The party’s constituents – Jana Sangh, Congress (O), Socialist Party and Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD), went their separate ways after the poll drubbing in 1980. Refusing to make changes in the Jana Sangh’s ideological parent – The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Jana Sangh was refashioned as the Bharatiya Janata Party on April 6, 1980 with Atal Bihari Vajpayee being its first president.

Shankersinh Vaghela (1996)

After BJP sucessfully wrested away Gujarat from Congress in 1995, senior BJP leader Shankersinh Vaghela rebelled against BJP’s CM pick Keshubhai Patel. With many MLAs backing Mr. Vaghela as CM, Mr. Patel was replaced by Mr. Suresh Mehta as CM in October 1995. However, the rift in the BJP continued and Mr. Vaghela rebelled once again in September 1996, flying 105 of the 121 BJP MLAs to a resort in Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho. The Suresh Mehta government was soon dismissed and President’s Rule was imposed in Gujarat. 

Wresting away 47 MLAs from BJP, Mr. Vaghela formed his own party Rashtriya Janata Party which had the support of the Congress. He was sworn in as Gujarat’s twelfth CM but lasted only a year. Choosing not to contest the 1998 Gujarat state polls, he promptly merged his outfit with the Congress after the BJP regained power. After almost a decade in the Congress, Mr. Vaghela rebelled and cross-voted against Congress veteran Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha polls in 2017. He later quit the party and founded a new party named Jan Vikalp Morcha, but was not recognised as an official political party by Election Commission.

After a brief stint in the Nationalist Congress Party, he launched another outfit named Praja Shakti Democratic Party to contest the 2022 Gujarat elections. However, he later bowed out and chose to back Congress instead.

Kalyan Singh (1999)

Overseeing the demolition of the Babri Masjid during his tenure as CM, Kalyan Singh was seen as BJP’s leader who would fructify its dream to build a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. However, after a hung verdict in the 1997 Uttar Pradesh elections, Mr. Singh was forced to share power with BSP chief Mayawati, irking factions with the BJP. When the BJP-BSP coalition hit choppy waters between 1998 and 1999, Mr. Singh faced internal revolt from upper-caste BJP MLAs forcing the BJP Central leadership to replace Mr. Singh with Ram Prakash Gupta as CM. 

Miffed at his ouster, Mr. Singh began vocally critiquing then-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He alleged that the BJP had given up the issues it stood for and had been “Congres-sised“ under Mr. Vajpayee, leading to his expulsion in December 1999. Within days, he floated his own outfit ‘Rashtriya Kranti party’ based on the ideology of Hindutva. His party won four seats in the 2002 polls and sat in Opposition with Samajwadi Party (SP). After the BJP-BSP government fell in 2003, Mr. Singh allied with SP with his son Rajveer Singh joining his long-time nemesis Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cabinet. He jumped ship back to the BJP in 2004 and merged his outfit with the BJP. 

In January 2009, Mr. Singh once again quit BJP citing ‘humiliation at the hands of party brass’ and the party countered that it was Mr. Singh’s ‘ideologically opposite’ alliance with SP which drove a wedge. In November 2009, Mr. Yadav blamed SP’s alliance with Mr. Singh for its loss in the Firozabad Lok Sabha by-election. A miffed Mr. Singh quit the alliance, launched another outfit ‘Jan Kranti Party’ and appointed his son as its president. However, the outfit was disbanded and merged with the BJP in 2013 as the party ramped up its campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The ex-UP CM rejoined the saffron party in March 2014 at a grand Modi rally in Lucknow and was subsequently appointed as Governor of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

Uma Bharti (2005)

Known as the ‘fiery sanyasin of Khajuraho’, BJP’s Madhya Pradesh stalwart Uma Bharti first expressed wish to quit the party in 1992 amid infighting in the party’s state unit. While then-BJP chief L.K. Advani managed to mollify the ‘heroine of Ram Janmabhoomi movement’ to remain in the saffron folds, Ms. Bharti resigned from her Lok Sabha and the party post in 2000 after being stiffed for a Union cabinet berth. Four years later, she once again ‘quit politics’ after she was forced to step down as Madhya Pradesh CM due to a non-bailable warrant issued against her in connection with the 1994 Hubli riots.

As she became a vocal critic of her successor in MP – CM Babulal Gaur, she was sacked in November 2004 by Mr. Advani but was re-inducted as BJP’s general secretary a month later at the instance of RSS top brass. Inspite of her inclusion in BJP, Ms. Bharti was not reinstated as CM and continued to rail against Mr. Gaur’s successor – Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Her antics led to her expulsion from BJP and founding of the Bharatiya Janshakti Party (BJSP). 

Claiming to have the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s support, Ms. Bharti’s outfit failed to reap any political dividends as Mr. Chouhan retained the state winning 143 out of the 230 seats in the 2008 state polls. On the other hand, BJSP won only five seats and Ms. Bharti began warming towards rejoining BJP. After she was formally inducted back in BJP on June 7, 2011, the BJSP merged with the BJP later that month. Since then, she has expressed regret for quitting the BJP and has held several portfolios in the Modi cabinet. She is currently one of the party’s vice presidents.

Keshubhai Patel (2012)

Miffed at his protegee Narendra Modi’s rising stature in Gujarat, former CM Keshubhai Patel quit the BJP to form the Gujarat Parivartan party. Opposing Mr. Modi’s bid to seek a fourth term as CM in 2012, Mr. Patel had alleged that BJP had moved away from its principles towards personal glorification. After his party failed to open its account in the 2013 State polls, he rejoined the BJP in 2014 as Mr. Modi moved to Central leadership. Till his death in 2020, Mr. Patel remained in the BJP but quit active politics.

B.S. Yediyurappa (2012)

Indicted of illegal transaction with mining companies by Lokayukta, BJP’s tallest Lingayat leader in Karnataka – B.S. Yediyurappa was forced to step down as Chief Minister on July 27, 2011 after pressure from BJP’s central leadership. After his resignation, Mr. Yediyurappa quit the BJP to form his own party Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). In the 2013 state polls, the KJP ate into the BJP’s Lingayat votebank, winning six seats and restricting the saffron party to 40.

A thaw between Mr. Yediyurappa and BJP’s central leadership appeared in September 2013 as Mr. Modi emerged as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial pick. As BJP ramped up its Lok Sabha campaign, Mr. Yediyurappa disbanded KJP in January 2014 and return to the saffron party’s fold. Since then, he has been elected as CM twice and has been elevated to the BJP’s Central Parliamentary board.

Yashwant Sinha (2018)

A Vajpayee veteran and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha first resigned from party posts in June 2009 after the BJP failed to stop the UPA government from getting re-elected. Taking responsibility for poll-drubbing, he resigned as BJP’s vice-president and member of the national executive committee and urged all party workers to resign from their posts so that there could be ‘transparent, internal elections to these posts’. However, he remained a BJP worker.

Almost a decade later, Mr. Sinha quit from the BJP in 2018 after being sidelined by the BJP under Modi-Shah. Accusing the Modi government of undermining democratic institutions, Mr. Sinha vowed to launch a nationwide campaign to “save democracy”. 

Ahead of the Bihar elections, Mr. Sinha along with Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) leader Arun Kumar founded the Bhartiya Sab Log Party (BSLP). The outfit contested on 30 seats and failed to open its account. BSLP later merged with the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) [LJP(RV)] in 2022.

Opposing the BJP, Mr. Sinha joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2021 as the saffron party canvassed for the West Bengal elections. He was jointly chosen as the Opposition’s candidate for the 2022 Presidential elections, but lost to Droupadi Murmu by a margin of 2,96,626 votes. After his electoral loss, he quit TMC to launch the ‘Atal Vichar Manch’ ahead of the 2024 Jharkhand elections. The party is yet to contest any elections.

Mysuru (Karnataka):

Launching a scathing attack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa said on Saturday that he will fight until his last breath to remain in politics and ensure that the former was booted out by the people of the state.

Addressing a public gathering at Mysuru, Mr Yediyurappa said, “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had asked me to retire from public life. Until my last breath, I will be in politics and ensure your (Mr Siddaramaiah’s) ouster. Is there any example of a Chief Minister getting 14 sites for his family in the history of the state? He is demanding Rs 65 crore, claiming that he would return it. Whose money is it going to be?”

Stating that Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has declared his support for Mr Siddaramaiah, Mr Yediyurappa added, “Mr Shivakumar’s sins are overflowing. You don’t know what is going to happen to you (Mr Siddaramaiah) and when it will happen. He speaks lightly about State BJP President BY Vijayendra and Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka. Mr Shivakumar would be better off bothering about his future,” Mr Yediyurappa said.

“The BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) are marching ahead together. The people are going to send you (Mr Siddaramaiah) home soon,” said the BJP leader.

“I will throw a challenge. Will you dissolve the government now and face the election? The BJP and JD(S) will emerge victorious in 130 to 140 seats in the state and attain a majority,” he added.

“There is open loot and daylight robbery taking place in the state. The people have grown wary of your government. There is no trace of development works in the state. The government has turned pauper. Not a single kilometre of road is being laid. The chief minister and deputy chief minister are involved in rampant corruption. They are not capable of running the administration in the state,” he said. 

“I am an 82-year-old man, I will take up a tour throughout the state and send you (Mr Siddaramaiah) home. I will end the corruption by the Congress government and their misrule,” he said.

“The chief minister and deputy chief minister also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda respects him and discusses bringing a change in the state. The people need to bless the BJP and JD(S) and bring them to power,” Mr Yediyurappa said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In fresh trouble for former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has filed a chargesheet naming him and three others in a case filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The BJP leader is accused of touching a 17-year-old girl inappropriately when she and her mother went to meet him at his house earlier this year to seek his help in a case of an assault on her in 2015. The survivor’s mother had filed a case under POCSO in March. 

After the mother died of cancer in May, the brother of the survivor approached the Karnataka High Court and complained that there had been no progress in the investigation.

Mr Yediyurappa had also approached the high court, which allowed the CID to question him but granted him protection from arrest. 

The CID questioned the 81-year-old earlier this month and then filed the chargesheet in a Bengaluru court on Thursday. The three others named in the document have been accused of destroying evidence. They had allegedly tried to convince the mother and daughter to delete evidence. 

Rubbishing the allegations against him, Mr Yediyurappa had said, “I am not complaining to anyone. Time will decide everything. People know what the truth is. Those who are engaging in trickery, the people will teach them a lesson.”