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A total of 13 functionaries from the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday quit the party to join its alliance partner the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
The 13 belonged to the BJP's IT wing in Chennai West.
The development comes as the state unit of the BJP accused the Edappadi Palaniswami-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of allegedly "poaching" its leaders.
BJP IT wing district president Anbarasan in a statement said, "I have worked for the BJP for years. People know that I have never expected any position. Considering the unusual scenario in the party for the past few days I have decided to resign from the party."
The statement bears the signatures of 10 IT wing district secretaries and two IT wing district deputy secretaries.
Several BJP functionaries have resigned and joined AIADMK recently.
On Tuesday, BJP intellectual wing state secretary Krishnan, IT wing state secretary Dileep Kannan, Trichy Rural district vice president Vijay and state OBC wing secretary Ammu joined the AIADMK after a meeting with Edappadi K Palaniswami.
This came just days after the exit of BJP state IT wing chief Nirmal Kumar to the AIADMK; he quit the party levelling serious allegations against Annamalai.
Similarly, IT wing state secretary Krishnan also resigned from the BJP blaming Annamalai. This has sparked a war of words on social media between supporters of the AIADMK and the BJP.
BJP functionaries raised questions about how Edappadi Palaniswami can welcome them with a smile despite being an alliance partner. In one such Twitter post, BJP sports and skill development state president Amar Prasad Reddy mentioned, "AIADMK being an alliance partner shouldn't have done this".
Meanwhile, Annamalai had told ANI earlier, "Some four BJP leaders have joined, it's an unfortunate state in Tamil Nadu where Dravidian politicians who think that they run big parties want to poach from BJP and grow their party. That only shows the BJP is growing."
Reacting to Annamalai's comments, AIADMK IT wing secretary Singai Ramachandran retorted on Twitter, "Once BJP was getting votes lesser than NOTA. In the 2021 election, how BJP MLAs won the election is the answer for this (AIADMK-BJP faced the election as allies). AIADMK is the organisation which won the election single-handedly. It is only a joke to say to develop AIADMK, BJP persons are needed."
Even during the Erode East bypoll, there was a war of words between the AIADMK and BJP, with AIADMK passing comments saying the BJP doesn't have a role in inter-party issues. Now once again it has become debatable.