Exodus of BJP cadres continues; AMMK, NTK men join AIADMK

CHENNAI: Exodus of the functionaries and cadres of the BJP's TN Unit continues as Chengalpattu district vice president Gangadevi Shankar along with around 100 women cadres quit the party and joined the AIADMK in the presence of Chitlapakkam C Rajendran.

The exodus of the party cadres and functionaries triggered ever since the former state president of IT wing of BJP's TN unit CTR Nirmal Kumar quit the party after levelling serious charges against state leader K Annamalai and his style of functioning.

Nirmal Kumar joined the AIADMK in the presence of Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on March 5. Since then, several state-level functionaries followed suit that triggered a war of words between the leaders of allies.

Gangadevi Shankar joined the long list of state level leaders exiting the party. After joining the prime opposition party, AIADMK, she charged that women were not respected in the saffron party nor permitted to work. They were ill-treated at every level that pushed her and many women cadres to quit the party.

"Though we took the issues at Mandal and district level to Annamalai, he did not listen to our complaints. He never gave an audience despite repeated complaints regarding the issues in the district units," she said and pointed out the inaction of Annamalai forced them to take the decision to quit the party.

Meanwhile, several functionaries from the NTK and the AMMK have joined the AIADMK party in the presence of EPS in the latter's residence in Greenways Road.

NTK's Erode (East) district secretary and the party's candidate in 2016 and 2021 assembly elections K Prakash and the party's youth wing functionary Tamilanban and functionaries from AMMK's Erode district units joined the AIADMK.

Two functionaries of the AMMK's Sivagangai district have also joined the AIADMK party.