Annamalai’s 'Gujarat company' remark about Centre resonates with Keralam’s ruling front and Opposition over north-south disparities
Former BJP leader Annamalai's criticism of the Central government's alleged bias toward Gujarat has gained traction among political rivals in Kerala. Both the ruling CPI(M) and the Opposition Congress have used his remarks to highlight concerns over regional economic disparities.
Why it matters
It reflects growing political friction regarding federalism and the equitable distribution of national resources in India.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu State president K. Annamalai’s recent criticism that the Central government has mutated into a “Gujarati company” appears to have resonated with the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala on Thursday (August 20, 2026).
Mr Annamalai, who broke ranks with the BJP in June, caused a stir by alleging that the BJP’s national leadership’s “Gujarat pivot” smacked of systemic apathy towards non-BJP-ruled South Indian States.
Mr Annamalai had accused the Centre of abandoning the principles of symmetric federalism by disproportionately channelling mammoth industrial and infrastructure projects, fiscal resources and big-ticket events to Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s home State.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Central committee member and former Keralam Finance Minister Thomas Isaac told The Hindu that the widening inter-State difference in economic development was “hurting even Modi sympathisers.”
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