Bengaluru: Actress-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar has resigned from the Congress and is all set to join the BJP.
BJP sources said she will join the party in the presence of national president J.P. Nadda.
Hours before her imminent induction into the BJP, the Congress dropped her as an AICC spokesperson. She had sent in her resignation from the party’s primary membership.
Congress secretary in charge of communications, Pranav Jha, released a statement Monday stating that Khushbu Sundar has been dropped as the party’s spokesperson “with immediate effect”.
‘People with no ground connectivity dictating terms’
In a letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Khushbu thanked the leader for giving her “various platforms in the most trying situations”.
“I came to the fold of the Indian National Congress at the time it was at its lowest , being defeated in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. I did not walk into the party for any monetary gain or fame,” her letter said.
Explaining one of the reasons for quitting the party, she claimed that there were a “few elements seated at the higher level in the party, people who have no connectivity with the ground reality or public recognition are dictating terms and people like me who wanted to work for the party sincerely, are being pushed and suppressed”.
She also wrote that her respect for Sonia Gandhi “will remain the same”.
Khushbu has been with the Congress since 2014 after she quit the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), citing lack of recognition of her work in the Dravidian party that she had been associated with for more than four years.
BJP looking at celebs to make inroads in TN
For more than a month, rumours have been rife about Khushbu joining the BJP, as the party had been trying to rope in celebrities and politicians who could help it make inroads in the southern state.
While there is speculation that the BJP may support southern superstar Rajinikanth, who is expected to launch his own party, the BJP would also like to cash in on Khushbu’s popularity. Inducting Khushbu, a very popular star in Tamil Nadu, when the assembly elections are just six months away is being seen as an addition to the party’s star power.
She felt sidelined in the Congress after EVKS Elangovan was replaced with K.S. Alagiri as TNCC president. She is likely to be given a post in the state unit of BJP, a ticket to contest the polls and could campaign in other states too, Chennai-based political analyst Sumanth C Raman told ThePrint.
ThePrint tried to contact Khushbu through calls and messages but did not receive a response from her.
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