13 BJP functionaries quit party in Tamil Nadu to join AIADMK

PTI, Mar 9, 2023, 8:30 AM IST

Defections from the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP continued on Wednesday as 13 party functionaries, including an IT wing office bearer quit the saffron organisation.

Orathi Anbarasu, IT wing chief of the party’s Chennai west unit and 12 others quit the party but made it clear they would not join the ruling DMK. They would follow the political path of their “leader” and former State IT wing chief CTR Nirmal Kumar, who had also quit the BJP and joined the AIADMK.

A couple of other party functionaries had also left the BJP and joined the K Palaniswami-led AIADMK which has led to a war of words between the two allies. In a statement, Anbarasu said he had been in the BJP for long and said he did not want to fall prey to “conspiracies ” in the party and was therefore quitting it.

Meanwhile, responding to a query raised by mediapersons in Coimbatore, BJP State president K Annamalai said that the issue of some second or third rung leaders leaving the party has taken a bigger dimension, as other parties were keenly watching the developments in BJP.

“There are possibilities of some big leaders leaving BJP and big leaders coming to the party after three months,” he said. Annamalai said that he had not joined BJP to have a MP or MLA tag behind his name but for the growth of the party.