NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 22
Senior DMK leader and Former Deputy Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly V.P. Duraisamy, who was stripped off his Deputy General Secretary’s post by DMK high command on Thursday, joined the BJP on Friday.
"திமுகவில் சாதிப் பாகுபாடு பார்க்கிறார்கள், திமுகவில் ஜாதிக்கு ஒரு நீதி. அனைத்து தரப்பு மக்களுக்குமான கட்சி பாஜக மட்டுமே" – பாஜகவில் இணைந்த பின்னர் வி.பி.துரைசாமி அவர்கள் கமலாலயத்தில் பேட்டி
@Murugan_TNBJP @blsanthosh @JPNadda @PMuralidharRao pic.twitter.com/to6qhCp6qw
— Dr.L.Murugan (மோடியின் குடும்பம்) (@Murugan_MoS) May 22, 2020
He joined the saffron party in the presence of State BJP president L. Murugan and senior leader L. Ganesan at Kamalalayam, the BJP state headquarters in Chennai.
Indicating that India was in ‘safe hands’ with the BJP, he said ‘you can protect the country if you accept the BJP’s ideology.’ On Thursday, DMK President M K Stalin removed Duraisamy from the party’s Deputy General Secretary, days after the latter met Murugan on a ‘courtesy call.’ On Friday, Duraisamy said he chose to tread a different path.
‘When those in the DMK deviate from the core ideology from which the movement emerged, what’s wrong if I quit (the DMK). My path is different,’ he told reporters and added that he continued to be a politician and not an opportunist.
He wholeheartedly accepted the BJP’s policies. He said he had joined the DMK following a request from the then president and former Chief Minister, the late M Karunanidhi.
Prior to Duraisamy, in December 2014, former Union Minister D Napoleon joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah in Chennai, after quitting the DMK.
Actor Radha Ravi, suspended from DMK last year for his comments against a leading south Indian female actor, had also later joined the BJP, before a brief stint in the AIADMK.
