Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai was detained by the Chennai police on Monday (17 March 2025) when he was on his way to Egmore to join a protest against alleged financial irregularities in Tasmac (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation). The police stopped him at Akkarai, about 1 km from his house, and arrested him.
Former Telangana governor and BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan was also detained as she left her house.
BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, who is the national president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, and MLA Saraswathi were also arrested near the state secretariat.
The Tamil Nadu BJP had planned to organize a protest outside the Tasmac headquarters located in Egmore, Chennai. The protest was against the alleged ₹1,000 crore financial irregularities in Tasmac, following which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently raided the Tasmac headquarters.
In the morning, when Tamilisai Soundararajan was leaving her house in Saligramam with her supporters to join the protest, the police deployed additional security forces outside her house and detained her. During this, there was a clash between BJP workers and the police.
Besides this, the police also arrested BJP workers who had gathered at the Rajarathinam Stadium and were planning to march towards the Tasmac headquarters. Another BJP leader Vinoj P. Selvam was detained from T Nagar and some other workers from Taramani.
BJP president Annamalai condemned these arrests. He posted on social media, saying, “Is it because we democratically announced the protest and told the date in advance that you (the government) are able to commit such cowardly acts? What will you do if we suddenly hold a protest without any prior notice?”
