COIMBATORE:Leaders of the Tamil Nadu BJP, who have been keen on projecting the party as a corruption-free alternative, were on Wednesday left red-faced as it emerged that controversial Coimbatore-based lottery kingpin
Santiago Martin’s eldest son Charles Jose Martin had joined the saffron party. There were also rumours that Martin’s wife Leema Rose, a functionary of the Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK), had joined the BJP.
A Tamil bi-weekly had published a photograph showing Charles Jose in the company of senior BJP leader Ram Madhav and another functionary. Jose is the managing director of the Martin group of companies, founded by his father who has numerous cases against him for running illegal lottery operations in Kerala, Northeast and other places.
While initially, State BJP president Tamilisai Soundarajan was quoted by a news portal justifying his enrolment as a member on the grounds that Jose personally did not face any criminal cases, later she fought shy of endorsing his membership. “We are not aware of his enrolment in the party. He has not joined the BJP in Tamil Nadu,” Tamilisai told Express.
However, Jose’s mother Leema confirmed his entry into the BJP. “He had joined the party eight months ago in Kashmir as per his personal desire. I don’t know why the media is raking this up now,” she said. However, Leema insisted that she had not joined the BJP and was very much in the IJK.
State BJP general secretary, GKS Selvakumar, who is the party’s face in Coimbatore, was on the defensive. “Jose could have joined the party during the mobile phone ‘missed call’ membership drive. The party had received over 50 lakh missed calls in Tamil Nadu including two lakh in Coimbatore,” he claimed.
According to him, party office bearers at the ward level would verify the background of those enrolling under the ‘missed call’ drive and only then a membership card would be formally issued. “We are now computerising the membership drive details and only after that the verification process will commence,” he added.
In early 2014, the Kerala police had charge-sheeted Martin in connection with causing a loss of Rs 4,500 crore to the Sikkim Government through illegal sale of lotteries.
Leema was also arrested by Chennai Crime Branch police in Coimbatore in March 2014 in connection with a criminal case involving the recovery of Rs 7.2 crore from the house of an associate and later released on bail.