NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, FEB 7
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu for conclusion rally of state chief Annamalai’s ‘En Mann En Makkal‘ yatra, several Tamil Nadu leaders, including 15 former MLAs and an ex-MP on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the saffron camp attempts to strengthen its position in the southern state after a split with former ally AIADMK ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
- They bring a wealth of experience to the BJP and want to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is coming back to power for a straight third term: K Annamalai
- Union Minister Chandrasekhar also hails the joining and calls it an outcome of Modi’s popularity in a state like Tamil Nadu, where the BJP has traditionally been not a big force
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a massive rally on 25 February in Tamil Nadu’s Palladam in the Tiruppur district, where state BJP chief K Annamalai’s ‘En Mann En Makkal‘ (My Land, My People) yatra will conclude.
The event where the leaders switched parties took place in the presence of Union ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and L Murugan besides the state BJP president K Annamalai.
Annamalai welcomed the new leaders in the party and said they bring a wealth of experience to the BJP and want to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is coming back to power for a straight third term.
“Tamil Nadu is going the Bharatiya Janata Party way,” Annamalai said.
Union Minister Chandrasekhar also hailed the joining and called it an outcome of 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.
Those who joined the saffron party are K Vadivel – Karur, PS Kandasamy – Aravakurichi, Gomati Srinivasan (Former Minister) – Valangaiman, R Chinnaswamy – Singhanallur, R Duraisamy (A) Challenger Durai – Coimbatore, MVRathnam – Pollachi, SM Vasan – Vedachandur, S Muthukrishnan – Kanyakumari, PS Arul – Bhuvanagiri, NR Rajendran, R Thangarasu – Andimadam, Gurunathan, VR Jayaraman – Theni, Balasubramanian – Sirkazhi and Chandrasekhar – Cholavanthan.
