Actress Kushboo, a former DMK member, joins Congress

Chennai, Nov 26: Lying low for nearly six months after quitting the DMK, actor-politician Kushboo Sundar joined the Congress party today.

Forty-four-year-old Khushboo joined the party in presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi whom she met at her 10 Janpath residence.

"Kushboo will join our party in the presence of party chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi," Tamil Nadu Congress President E V K S Elangovan told PTI from Delhi.

Congress leaders feel that the entry of the popular actress will be a morale booster at a time when senior leader G K Vasan had deserted it with his followers.

Known for her penchant for making controversial remarks like the one on pre-martial sex, Kushboo quit the DMK on June 16, saying she was slighted by the party leadership.

In a letter to DMK chief M Karunanidhi, she had complained that her hardwork had become a one-way path in the party.

Kushboo's house had come under attack last year after she made certain comments about leadership succession in the DMK, which attracted the wrath of supporters of party Treasurer M K Stalin.

Actor Kushboo Sundar had quit DMK sulking over being "sidelined," saying her hard work continued to be an "one-way path".

"It causes unbearable stress when my dedication and hard work for the party continues to be an one-way path," she said in a letter to party chief M Karunanidhi on a day when DMK restructured its district units as part of measures to galvanize party workers after the Lok Sabha poll rout.

The actor noted that she had executed party work and fulfilled responsibilities with cent per cent dedication from day one "which is well known" to both party members and leaders.

Kushboo joined DMK on May 15, 2010 when the party was ruling Tamil Nadu.

Considered one of the finest actors in south Indian cinema, Khushboo has worked in over 100 films and shared screen space with superstars like Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Mammootty and Mohanlal.

In 2010, the Supreme Court had cleared Khushboo of 22 cases filed against her for her remarks on pre-martial sex in an interview to a magazine in 2005.

PTI