Chennai, Mar 15 (IANS): Senior BJP leader and spokesperson of the party in Tamil Nadu, K.T. Raghavan, said on Monday that most of the candidates for the ensuing Assembly polls in the state are old hands of the BJP and the RSS.

Raghavan was responding to a tweet by BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, who said that most of the candidates in the BJP list are defectors or those who do not have any RSS or Jana Sangh background except for two.

Raghavan said, "The BJP candidates' list includes senior party leaders H. Raja, P. Ramesh, Vanathi Srinivasan, M.R. Gandhi, the party's state unit chief L Murugan and several other leaders, all of whom have RSS, BJP and ABVP background."

The BJP leader also said that people are joining the BJP from other parties, which is bound to happen in politics. He also admitted that people join other parties from the BJP as well.

"Subramanian Swamy was the president of the Janata Party. Later he merged the party with the BJP and he is now a national executive member of the party. Is there any problem in that," Raghavan asked.

Swamy's statement has created ripples among the ordinary party workers of Tamil Nadu, as many feel that the tweet was unfounded.

BJP leader R. Kuppuswamy told IANS over phone from Kanyakumari, "Such a tweet from a leader like Subramanian Swamy is not acceptable at a time when the party has stitched a powerful alliance ahead the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. The party has several leaders with RSS, ABVP and BJP background."