Ahead of crucial general elections next year, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s partner in the key southern state of Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or the AIADMK, broke the alliance and walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) this week, taking the BJP by surprise. The move comes after controversial statements by the state BJP chief K. Annamalai on Dravidian patriarch C.N. Annadurai and former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. Annamalai has been needling the AIADMK for nearly a year.