DMK MLA Saravanan joins BJP, second legislator from Dravidinan party to switch to Saffron camp

Chennai, Mar 14: Weeks before assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, DMK legislator P Saravanan joined the BJP here on Sunday, protesting what he called the ''dominance'' and ''silent torture'' by the district-level officer-bearers of the Dravidian party.

Saravanan, representing Tirupparankundram constituency in Madurai region, is the second DMK MLA after Ku Ka Selvam (Thousand Lights constituency here) to join the BJP ahead of the April 6 assembly polls.

Joining the BJP party in the presence of state unit president L Murugan, Saravanan indicated arm-twisting by district level office-bearers as the reason for quitting the Dravidian outfit, which is leaving no stone unturned to return to power in the state after being in opposition for 10 years.

When asked if he had taken up with the DMK brass about the issues he faced, Saravanan, who was elected to the assembly in 2019 bypoll, said district secretaries gave a kind of ''silent torture'' to him.

The intra-party issues were taken to the notice of second-rung leadership but to no avail, he claimed.

District secretaries ruled the roost in DMK and it caused regret to many, he alleged. Though some adapted themselves to the situation, he could not as he viewed politics only as an extension of his services to the people, he maintained.

Saravanan said he is a medical doctor, and considering his ''soft-nature'' he could not put up with such an ambience in the DMK and that was why he joined the BJP.

The DMK MLA runs a hospital in the temple town of Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu and holds post graduate qualification in medicine. Years ago, he was with the BJP and had subsequently joined the DMK.