Saffron offshoots: Leaders who quit BJP to start their own parties

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(L-R): BJP leaders Keshubhai Patel, K Annamalai and Uma Bharti

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.

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