The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, February 4, appointed Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Education and skill development as the party’s incharge for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections. In an official statement, the party also said that K Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu state president of the BJP, will be the co-incharge of the polls in Karnataka.

The decision was confirmed in an organisational letter by BJP National President JP Nadda and it comes months before the state assembly elections in Karnataka.

A veteran BJP leader, Dharmendra Pradhan, has been tasked with the responsibility of leading several election campaigns for the party in the past as well.

Meanwhile, Annamalai K, a 2011 batch IPS officer from Karur in Tamil Nadu, worked in the Karnataka police as the SP of Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts and as the DCP of Bengaluru South. He resigned from police service in 2019 with the intention of entering politics. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in August 2020.

Since entering politics, Annamalai has enjoyed a vaulted rise within the ranks of the BJP, becoming the Tamil Nadu BJP President within a year of joining the party in July 2021.