S Vijayadharani TN Congress MLA joins BJP ahead of LS Polls 2024
S Vijayadharani TN Congress MLA joins BJP ahead of LS Polls 2024
In a yet another fresh development ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024,
S Vijayadharani, a three-time Congress MLA from Tamil Nadu, putting an end to speculations joined the BJP today, Sunday, 25 February
in the presence of Union Minister L Murugan and the party’s national secretary Arvind Menon, poll in charge of Tamil Nadu.
Vijayadharani asserted that her move will strengthen PM Modi’s hold in the southern state. She hails from the family of celebrated Tamil poet late Kavimani Desiga Vinayagam Pillai.
She heaped praises on the central government for its various good schemes and lamented that some of those are not being implemented in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK, an ally of the Congress is in power.
Adding that a lot of great things are happening to the country, and praising the BJP’s focus on women.
Earlier, taking to her X(twitter), she posted her letter of resignation from the Congress before joining the BJP.
Her post read that she is resigning from the position of primary membership and related posts held by her in the Congress party.
A sitting MLA from Vilavancode, a constituency the BJP has won in the past, S Vijayadharani was apparently upset that neither did Congress consider her for a parliamentary seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls nor did it elevate her to the leader of the legislature party. The grand old party recently appointed MLA K Selvaperunthagai as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC).
Her very reason to quit Congress is that Women are not given leadership roles in Congress. Even now, someone who is junior to her has been made the leader of the legislature party. With support from the Union government, now she would be able to fulfill the infrastructure requirements of Kanniyakumari.
The entry of S Vijayadharani into the BJP comes as a booster as it recently suffered a setback after AIADMK snapped ties with it.
In the 2019 general elections,
BJP was unable to win any of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in the 2019 general elections.
The BJP, however, has a larger presence in Kanniyakumari. However, observers say her switch may not shift votes to the BJP as her victory from the Congress was possible only due to its alliance with the DMK.
Speculations are rife that S Vijayadharani may be BJP’s candidate from the Nagercoil Lok Sabha constituency.
The BJP having a negligence presence in the state counts on its state chief Annamalai’s padayatra to expand its footprint in the state even as it tries to cobble an alliance with a few smaller parties.
Vijayadharani, also a successful lawyer, is the first sitting MLA to join the BJP.
She was first elected from the Vilavancode assembly constituency in 2011 and romped home the winner in 2016 and 2021 elections.
Before joining the BJP, the 54-year-old leader was the general secretary of AICC and chief whip of the Congress Legislative Party in the Assembly.
News Edit K.V.Raman
