''Unattached'' MLA S Ve Shekher to join Congress

Chennai, Feb 2 (PTI): ''Unattached'' MLA from Mylaporeconstituency in Chennai, S Ve Shekher today said he would jointhe Congress, following his meeting with party generalsecretary Rahul Gandhi recently.

Shekher, axed from the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK in 2009,saidhe had met Gandhi two months back and would join the party''under instructions'' of Union Health and Family WelfareMinister Ghulam Nabi Azad, the national in-charge of Congressaffairs in the state.

Shekher''s decision comes amidst speculations that themulti-faceted actor-politician could join DMK, especiallyafter his dismissal from AIADMK following differences with theparty high command. Since his dismissal from AIADMK, he hadremained an ''unattached member'' in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

In an e-mailed statement, he described Congress presidentSonia Gandhi as the ''greatest visionary leader of the nation''and said he would join the Congress in the presence of UnionMinisters P Chidambaram and G K Vasan and TNCC president K VThankgabalu on February 6 at the party headquarters here.

''With the great aspiration of bringing back Congress rulein the state, I will contribute in every possible way tostrengthen the party,'' he said.

The move should come as a boost to Congress in its effortto attract other party leaders ahead of the polls due in May,even as Shekher represents a Brahmins-dominated constituencyin the state capital. A few months back, BSP''s Dalit leader, KSelvam MLA,had joined Congress in the presence of Chidambaram.

Shekher, elected to the Assembly in 2006 from an AIADMKticket, had defeated DMK''s D Napolean, now Union Minister ofState for Social Justice and Empowerment.