Welcoming them, Annamalai said that they would bring a wealth of experience to the BJP and would strengthen the hands of PM Narendra Modi.
The joining of the TN leaders took place in the presence of Union ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and L Murugan, besides the state BJP president K Annamalai. (X)
Several leaders from Tamil Nadu, including 15 former MLAs and an ex-MP, joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday, 7 February. This comes as a boost to the ruling party that is looking to strengthen its presence in Tamil Nadu in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Most of these leaders are from the AIADMK, a former BJP ally in the state, and the joining took place in the presence of Union ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and L Murugan, besides the state BJP president K Annamalai.
The former AIADMK MLAs who joined the BJP are K Vadivel (Karur), Duraisamy alias Challenger Durai (Coimbatore), PS Kandasamy (Aravakurichi), MV Rathinam (Pollachi), R Chinnasamy (Singanallur), VR Jayaraman (Theni), SM Vasan (Vedasandur), PS Arul (Bhuvanagiri), R Rajendran (Kattumannarkoil), Selvi Murugesan (Kangeyam) and A Rokini (Kolathur). Former AIADMK minister Gomathi Srinivasan also joined the BJP.
From the DMK, former Chidambaram MP V Kulandaivelu and former MLA S Gurunathan switched camps.
Welcoming them, Annamalai said that they would bring a wealth of experience to the BJP and would strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is coming back to power for a straight third term.
They have been seeing the situation in Tamil Nadu, he said, in an apparent swipe at the state’s ruling DMK and its main rival AIADMK.
“Tamil Nadu is going the Bharatiya Janata Party way,” claimed the young leader whose strong position on his party’s ideological stand in the Dravidian state and sharp criticism of the entrenched parties has won him his share of admirers and detractors.
Chandrasekhar said that the joining at such a big scale shows Modi’s popularity in a state like Tamil Nadu, where the BJP has traditionally been not a big force.
Noting that Modi has projected that the BJP will win 370 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha and the NDA will cross 400, he claimed that many of these new seats will come from Tamil Nadu.
“It is clear that every citizen of India wants the transformation of the last 10 years to continue,” he said.
மாண்புமிகு பாரதப் பிரதமர் திரு @narendramodi அவர்கள் நல்லாட்சியால் ஈர்க்கப்பட்டு, அவரது கரங்களை வலுப்படுத்த, இன்றைய தினம் டெல்லியில், மத்திய இணை அமைச்சர் திரு @Rajeev_GoI, மத்திய இணை அமைச்சர் திரு @Murugan_MoS, @BJP4TamilNadu பாராளுமன்ற தேர்தல் பொறுப்பாளர் திரு @MenonArvindBJP,… pic.twitter.com/874jx985o7
— K.Annamalai (மோடியின் குடும்பம்) (@annamalai_k) February 7, 2024
The AIADMK on Wednesday said it had already shut its door on the BJP and ruled out joining forces with the saffron party for the Lok Sabha polls.
Following Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remark that “the BJP’s doors are open for the AIADMK”, senior party leader D Jayakumar said that BJP’s top leader Shah has spelt out his party’s stand.
“Amit Shah has said the doors of his party are open for the AIADMK. As regards the stand of our party, the BJP was once a friendly party. Now, it is a party that we oppose out-and-out,” Jayakumar, AIADMK’s organisation secretary said.
Without naming Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, the AIADMK leader alleged that the Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai and late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa were belittled by him. Annamalai’s criticism against such tall leaders continued despite his party strongly condemning it.
“How can we accept it?” he asked, adding that the cadres and people were against joining hands with the BJP. “When we severed our ties with the BJP, party workers burst firecrackers across the state; it showed the sentiments of our cadres; they do not want any alliance with the BJP.”
In September 2023, the AIADMK snapped its ties with the BJP, following Annamalai’s alleged criticism of AIADMK icon Jayalalithaa vis-à-vis corruption allegations and Dravidian ideologue Annadurai for his “anti-Hindu” comment made in the 1950s.
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