BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who has been taking on the Congress for its corruption scandals, on Wednesday evening controversially ended up sharing the dais with Leema Rose, the wife of Martin, India’s most notorious lottery kingpin, at an election rally in Coimbatore.
Both Martin and Leema are facing criminal cases in Tamil Nadu, the former in other states as well. Leema, who was in March last year arrested in Coimbatore by the Chennai Crime Branch police in connection with a criminal case involving the recovery of `7.2 crore from the house of an associate, is out on bail. She is at present an office-bearer of the Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) floated by educationist S R Pachamuthu. The party is an ally of the BJP in the current Lok Sabha elections and Pachamuthu himself is contesting on behalf of the NDA from the Perambalur Parliamentary constituency.
On Wednesday, moments before Modi arrived at the campaign venue in Coimbatore, Leema Rose took to the stage along with other leaders, including the BJP’s Lalitha Kumaramangalam, and made an appeal to the crowd to vote for the BJP and its allies.
Later, when Modi took to the dais, she passed on a sword (in picture) to the BJP poll mascot. Standing next to her was the BJP’s Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency candidate C P Radhakrishnan.
Incidentally, Martin and Leema Rose are well known in Coimbatore as the couple stay in the textile city.
Earlier this year, the Kerala police had charge-sheeted Martin in connection with causing a loss of `4,500 crore to the Sikkim government through illegal sale of lotteries.
Incidentally, the Martin couple was once close to DMK leader M Karunanidhi but later fell out with him. Leema had even filed a complaint alleging that a member of the DMK leader’s family was threatening them to part with lots of cash.