Chennai: Tamil actor, choreographer and reality show contestant Gayathri Raghuram joined the AIADMK Friday after a meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
The decision to join the AIADMK was a natural choice, Raghuram told ThePrint, adding that it was a party she “grew up with”.
Raghuram had quit the BJP last year, after eight years with the party, citing state party chief K. Annamalai as the reason. In a post on X, she had said she was not given an “opportunity for enquiry, equal rights” in the party, adding that women “are not safe” under Annamalai’s leadership.
She had also accused him of chasing away “true karyakartas”.
In November 2022, Raghuram was suspended for six for allegedly bringing disrepute to the party. Earlier that year, she had voiced concerns over a leaked audio where BJP leader Trichy Suriya Siva was purportedly heard speaking in an unparliamentary manner with a woman party functionary.
Speaking to ThePrint in March 2023, Raghuram had called her suspension an injustice, and talked about plans for a padyatra to “spread awareness about women’s rights”.
‘AIADMK family’
Gayathri Raghuram represents the third generation of her family in films as well as the AIADMK. Her great grandfather, director Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam, and her father, choreographer Raghuram, had been close to the AIADMK as well, she said.
“My great grandfather K. Subrahmanyam, a director from the 1930s, was very close to MGR ayya (sir) and knew him from the start of his career. For Jayalalithaa Amma, my father Raghuram did a lot of shows and campaigns and brought in a lot of people from the film industry into the AIADMK,” she added.
Her decision to join the BJP at a young age came soon after her father’s demise, she said, adding that it was driven by “a lack of awareness about politics”.
“But it was a lesson. I really respect the leaders I worked with in the party like Tamilisai Soundararajan, Pon Radhakrishnan, H. Raja, and Vanathi Srinivasan. I looked up to Narendra Modi ji and had joined the BJP,” she added.
She said the “BJP is now doing cringe fanaticism and religious politics which is affecting the peace in the country, and this is what is driving people away from them”.
The AIADMK, meanwhile, “has been integral in the development of the state”, she said. “Even after the recent rains and floods in the state, many have been missing the previous AIADMK government, as their handling of the situation was better.”
She described former CM Palaniswami as a “humble” and “charismatic” person. “EPS is very polite, and a better administrator. Simple and affectionate towards the party cadres… The AIADMK will do very well in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls,” she added.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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