Home India DMK inducts top BJP leader, buzz on deal with Prashant Kishor’s IPAC

DMK inducts top BJP leader, buzz on deal with Prashant Kishor’s IPAC

BJP state vice-president B T Arasakumar, who had kicked up a controversy last week for his remarks praising DMK chief M K Stalin, joined the party on Thursday, calling it a “homecoming”.

DMK leader MK Stalin. (File)

The DMK seems to be gearing up for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls scheduled for 2021, with the party poaching a top BJP leader on Thursday and reportedly finalising a deal with political strategist Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) to chart out its campaigns in the coming months.

BJP state vice-president B T Arasakumar, who had kicked up a controversy last week for his remarks praising DMK chief M K Stalin, joined the party on Thursday, calling it a “homecoming”. Arasakumar had last week faced his own party’s wrath when he compared Stalin to former chief minister M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR.

Irked by his statement, the BJP state leadership sent a report to the national leadership and directed him to stay away from the party’s meetings and media interactions. However, a senior DMK leader said Arasakumar’s joining the party has no major significance. “We were accepting him, not poaching him. He is not a mass leader like Senthil Balaji,” the leader said, referring to the popular AIADMK leader and minister who joined DMK and led the party to victory in Karur in recent last Lok Sabha elections and bypolls.

Explained DMK wary of third front splitting anti-govt votes

Meanwhile, DMK sources said Stalin and Kishor have finalised a deal to ensure the party’s victory in the 2021 Assembly polls.

A senior DMK leader told The Indian Express, “They (IPAC) may be working for DMK with a team of 150 members…”

A DMK MP said the 2021 polls will be crucial. “…When we already have a powerful alliance in the state with the Left, Dalit and minority parties, Kishor may be primarily focusing on social media and innovative campaign techniques,” he said.

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