By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Chennai, Aug 6 (IANS): The BJP is luring some disgruntled persons in DMK in order to project that it is growing in the state and one sparrow does not make a summer, said DMK spokesperson and MP T.K.S. Elangovan.
Elangovan was referring to the quitting of former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, V.P. Duraisamy, from the DMK and the recent actions of party legislator from Thousand Lights constituency here, K.K. Selvam.
Selvam had recently met BJP National President J.P. Nadda and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi.
"The BJP is hooking disgruntled persons in the party or those facing some legal problems. The BJP and also those who are joining it know that the party will not come to power in Tamil Nadu in the near future. And the DMK members are not joining BJP for ideological reasons," Elangovan told IANS.
According to him, the party is not losing anyone with a good following at the ground level.
"Duraisamy aspired for Rajya Sabha membership which had gone to some other person. The party would have fielded him in the Assembly elections. Similarly, Selvam didn't get the post of Chennai West District Secretary following the death of sitting legislator J. Anbazhagan," Elangovan added.
Interestingly, the traffic between DMK-BJP is two-way and not one way.
Recently, BJP leader S.K. Vedarathinam in Nagapattinam district quit the party to join the DMK. A three-time MLA under DMK, Vedarathinam had quit the party nine years back to join the BJP.
It is said that Vedarathinam was not happy in BJP as he was not given a prominent post and hence he decided to go back to DMK.
"The coming back of Vedarathinam is actually a gain for the party. He has good grassroots support which may not be so in the case of Duraisamy or Selvam," Elangovan said.
It is rumoured that the BJP is casting its net for some more DMK leaders, including some lawmakers.
"For BJP it is an image building exercise to show the unsuspecting people that it is gaining traction in the state. For those whose main purpose of being in politics is to make money will jump ships. For them the only ideology is to make money and to develop their business," Elangovan said.
On Wednesday, the DMK suspended Selvam for actions which defamed the party, and stripped him of all party posts and issued a showcause notice to him as to why he should not be removed as a basic member of the party.
On his part, Selvam said that he was not worried even if he was removed from the party. He also attended a puja at the office of the BJP's Tamil Nadu unit on Wednesday.
He also indirectly criticised his party, saying that hereditary politics has now become family politics and asked DMK President M.K. Stalin to hold organisational elections and condemn the denigration of Hindu deity Murugan and the prayer "Kanda Shasti Kavacham" by the YouTube channel Karuppar Koottam.
Selvam said that he was hoping for the post of DMK's Chennai West District Secretary following the death of sitting legislator J. Anbazhagan due to Covid-19, but was denied the same.
On the possible entry of Rajinikanth into active politics by floating a party, Elangovan said: "If at all he floats a party and contests the elections, he may get 5 per cent vote. Even that will be at the cost of the ruling AIADMK. Kamal Haasan's party 4 four per cent vote in the Lok Sabha polls."
"AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran's fan base was DMK members. When he broke away from the DMK, his fans too went with him. He also had mass appeal. In the case of Rajinikanth, his fans will be in several parties and when it comes to voting, they will choose the party over their movie idol," he said.
When pointed out that Rajinikanth's mass appeal cannot be compared with that of Kamal Haasan, he added: "If Rajinikanth continues to have a mass fan following, then his films should have been great hits. But his recent movies are not great hits."