Blow to Stalin: DMK Dy General Secretary VP Duraisamy jumps to BJP after party ouster

In an interesting development in Tamil Nadu politics, former DMK Deputy General Secretary VP Duraisamy has joined BJP on Friday. His joining ceremony was held in the presence of the state party chief L Murugan at the Tamil Nadu unit headquarters in Kamalalayam, Chennai.

DMK president MK Stalin on Thursday removed Duraisamy as deputy general secretary and replaced him with Rajya Sabha member Anthiyur P Selvaraj.

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Duraisamy had served as Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 1991 and 2006 to 2011. He was removed from his post days after he called on BJP state president L Murugan.

Duraisamy had met with Murugan on May 18 which had set off a buzz in the state political circles, with various speculations coming to the fore, given the diverse political ideologies of both parties. Describing the meeting as a "courtesy call", Duraisamy said both he and Murugan hailed from Namakkal district and that they had contested the 2016 assembly election against each other. The BJP too had earlier described the meeting as a courtesy call and that Duraisamy had greeted Murugan for taking over as the state BJP chief recently.

On Thursday, Duraisamy spoke to the media criticising DMK. “Though parties speak loud against castes, none has provided the leader post to Dalits as done by BJP. All parties speak against castes but use caste during election time,” said Duraisamy.

“Stalin, as an individual, is a good person but he listens to a few people who are always around him and have formed a coterie,” he added.

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