CHENNAI: Former Union minister D Napoleon is expected to join the BJP on Sunday in the presence of party president Amit Shah. As a prelude to this, the actor quit the DMK on Saturday. Napoleon is the close relative of former minister K N Nehru.
In his letter to DMK president M Karunanidhi and general secretary K Anbazhagan, Napoleon said, “I am resigning from the primary membership of the DMK which had groomed me from the age of 16. I have served the party for the past 35 years.” He expressed gratitude to Karunanidhi, Anbazhagan and M K Stalin for their support over the years.
Napoleon was sidelined in the DMK as he was acting in support of Karunanidhi’s elder son M K Alagiri. For quite some time, he has been staying away from party work.
It is expected that along with Napoleon, office-bearers of his fans associations will also join the BJP.
Meanwhile, during a meeting at Maraimalai Nagar, music director Gangai Amaran, actor Gayathri Raghuram and many office-bearers from the DMK, AIADMK and Congress joined the BJP in the presence of Shah.
Taking on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for saying that the BJP had done nothing in the last six months, BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday gave a list of achievements of the Narendra Modi government, including the Jan Dhan Yojana, Smart Cities Project, Swachh Bharat Mission etc. He charged that the Congress-led UPA regime, in which DMK was a member, was known for various scams to the tune of about `12 lakh crore.
“After the BJP came to power, price rise has been controlled and ‘Make in India’ programme is being implemented to provide jobs to the youth. On the contrary, there was policy paralysis during the UPA regime. But now, Modi is steering the country on the growth mode,” he added.
The BJP president got a resounding yes from the crowd to questions like whether the people would want 24 hours power supply, end to family rule and employment opportunities for the youth.
Senior leaders of the BJP, including Pon Radhakrishnan, Muralidhar Rao and State BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan were among those who spoke on the occasion.