Former AIADMK minister Anwhar Raajhaa joins DMK
AIADMK
organisational secretary Anwhar Raajhaa met chief minister
M K Stalin
in the city and joined
DMK
on Monday.
Raajhaa criticised
BJP
as well as AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami after joining DMK and praised Stalin as a leader with no opponents to match his stature.
"The agenda of BJP is to destroy AIADMK so that it can put up a fight with DMK as a political rival in TN. BJP is a negative force in TN," Raajhaa told reporters.
You Can Also Check:
Chennai AQI
|
Weather in Chennai
|
Bank Holidays in Chennai
|
Public Holidays in Chennai
Praising Stalin for his stiff opposition to BJP, Raajhaa said, "No doubt Stalin will be the next chief minister. People of the state vote for leaders, and there is none to counter Stalin in the AIADMK."
"Seven former ministers held talks with EPS stressing on the unity of AIADMK for three hours at his residence, but he never accepted the request," he said, calling EPS a "rigid person".
As Raajhaa reached Anna Arivalayam, minister Raja Kannappan and DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan took him inside where Stalin draped him with a shawl. Moments later, EPS sacked him from AIADMK.
Raajhaa's entry into DMK is expected to add strength to the party in his native Ramanathapuram district. A loyalist of former CM M G Ramachandran, Raajhaa was a minister in Jayalalithaa's cabinet from 2001 to 2006. He was also elected as Lok Sabha MP from Ramanathapuram constituency in 2014.
When AIADMK supported the bills on CAA and triple talaq in parliament, Raajhaa criticised BJP. He was also critical of AIADMK's alliance with BJP and said the saffron party could never get a foothold in TN.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
3 minutes ago
- Hans India
Temple demolished in Hyderabad for Muslim votes, says MoS Bandi Sanjay
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday alleged that a temple was demolished in Hyderabad to get votes of 30 per cent Muslim voters in the upcoming by-election to the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency. He told media persons in Karimnagar that the Congress government in Telangana demolished the Peddamma temple in Banjara Hills for vote bank politics. He demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy tender an apology and immediately suspend officials responsible for the demolition of the temple. 'How many Temples, Masjids and Churches are on roads? But what was the need to demolish the Banjara Hills Peddamma temple? The Congress government should immediately suspend the officials responsible. Is the government trying to appease a community who are 30 per cent in Jubilee Hills for votes in by-elections?' he asked. The BJP leader asked if the government has the courage to demolish places of worship of other communities. He stated that the Hindu community was ready to teach a lesson to the Congress government for demolishing the temple. The Minister of State alleged that the Congress betrayed Hindus and Backward Classes (BCs). Bandi Sanjay said that the 'BC declaration' released by the Congress at Kamareddy in the 2023 Assembly elections was in reality a 'Muslim declaration'. He alleged that the Congress wants to give 10 per cent reservation to Muslims and increase the reservation for BCs by only 5 per cent. The MoS also alleged that Hindus in Telangana were being projected as a 'minority' as part of a conspiracy of the Congress party. 'By giving reservations to 100 per cent Muslims, attempts are being made to show Hindus as a minority,' he said. He reiterated that the BJP would not allow 42 per cent reservation for BCs if Muslims are included in BCs. 'We have to stop this here as the Congress plans to implement this Muslim declaration across the country,' he said. Bandi Sanjay alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wants to weaken the Hindu community by breaching the 50 per cent reservation cap. He remarked that Rahul Gandhi would fail just like his great-grandfather, grandmother, and father failed in their attempts. On Congress leaders calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a 'converted BC,' Bandi Sanjay questioned Gandhi's own caste and religion. He pointed out that PM Modi's BC status was recognised by a previous Congress government. 'Rahul Gandhi's grandfather was a Parsi, and his mother is an Italian Christian. Is Rahul Gandhi a converted Christian, a converted Muslim or a converted Hindu?' he asked.
The Hindu
3 minutes ago
- The Hindu
LDF, UDF condemn arrest of two Keralite nuns on ‘trumped-up' charge of forced conversion in Chhattisgarh
The arrest of two Keralite nuns on charges of human trafficking and kidnapping for forced religious conversion at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on Friday has drawn sharp criticism from Church leaders and also the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala. Fr. Robin Rodrigues, a spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), told reporters in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday that the nuns were travelling with three other women, aged between 18 and 19, from Durg to Agra when persons suspected to be Bajrang Dal workers accosted them angrily. He said they accused the nuns, Sister Vandana Francis, from the Udayagiri parish at Thalassery in Kannur, and Sister Preeta Mary from the Elavoor parish at Angamaly in Ernakulam, of taking women to Agra to convert them to Christianity and offering them money, food, and accommodation as inducements. Both are attached to the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) order. CBCI Women's Council secretary Asha Paul said the women were travelling with the sisters on their own volition. They had consent letters from their parents and identity proof, including Aadhar, and railway tickets. Judicial remand Sister Asha alleged that the police refused to hear the nuns' entreaties to contact the parents of the women and record their statements before initiating prosecution. Instead, the officers brazenly sided with the suspected Bajrang Dal activists and arrested the nuns on non-bailable charges. She said the sisters were currently in judicial remand at a Durg prison and a court will hear their bail plea on Monday. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, MP, said the arrest of the nuns on 'trumped up' charges was the latest incident in the long series of persecution of minorities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States in north India, chiefly Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. Mr. Venugopal told reporters in New Delhi that he has conveyed Congress's strong protest to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Union Home Minister Amit Shah against the high-handedness of the State police. PM's intervention sought Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader and chairperson of the Kerala Congress (M) Jose K. Mani, MP, posted on social media that he has sought the urgent intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop mob attacks against Christians and Church leaders in BJP-ruled States. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan depicted the BJP as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'. He said the BJP made a show of visiting Church leaders, Christian households, and bishops to woo the community to its fold. At the same time, the BJP unleashed the Sangh Parivar forces against Christians in States where it held power.
The Hindu
3 minutes ago
- The Hindu
MHA refuses to share data on CAA beneficiaries
More than a year after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 became effective, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has refused to share data on the total number of beneficiaries under the Act. A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from West Bengal told The Hindu that fewer than 100 people in his constituency had received citizenship under the CAA even though the number of intended beneficiaries, mostly belonging to the Matua sect, were around 1 lakh. There are around 2.8 crore people from the Matua and Namasudra communities who stand to benefit from the CAA in the State. The CAA Rules were notified on March 11, 2024 to give citizenship to undocumented members of Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist and Christian communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh under the Act that was passed in 2019. Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar told The Hindu that the requirement to submit any one document, which will help trace an applicant's roots to Bangladesh, should be dropped and the cut-off date for applying under CAA should be amended too. The existing cut-off date is December 31, 2014. 'Most people do not have any of the documents sought by the MHA to fulfil citizenship criteria. These people came to India to escape persecution, with barely any belongings. How will they provide documents?' Mr. Sarkar said. Following reports from West Bengal, Schedule 1A of the CAA Rules was tweaked on July 8, 2024, and the list of nine documents to prove that the applicant is a national of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan was expanded to include any document issued by the State or the Centre or quasi-judicial authority in India identifying or representing the applicant or their parents or grandparents or great-grandparents as a national of these three countries . Anticipating non-cooperation in Opposition-ruled States, the CAA Rules entrusted Central government officials posted in States, including officials of Directorate of Census, Postal Department, Railways, National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Intelligence Bureau, to process the applications. On April 2, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in the Rajya Sabha that 'thousands were granted citizenship', while responding to Trinamool Congress member Sushmita Dev's remarks that merely 350 people were granted citizenship under the CAA. The Minister did not specify the number. The Act was mostly expected to benefit people in West Bengal and Assam as those who had arrived from Pakistan had entered legally and possessed one of the documents required to acquire citizenship. In West Bengal, most intended beneficiaries already have voter cards and other identity documents. One of the criteria to avail citizenship under the CAA is that the applicant has to declare that he or she is a foreigner. The Pakistani applicants from the six non-Muslim communities would have been eligible under the Citizenship Act, 1955 also after living in India continuously for 12 years. According to Hindu Singh, president, Seemant Lok Sangathan, a group that advocates for the rights of Pakistani minority migrants in India, of the around 8,500 people who applied under the CAA in Rajasthan, 7,250 were granted citizenship in the past one year. On March 10, Assam's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary informed the Assembly that two applicants in Assam were granted citizenship under CAA. In Gujarat, at least 373 people had got citizenship via the CAA. While discussing the legislation in Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that 'lakhs and crores' of people would benefit from the law. However, Director, Intelligence Bureau had deposed before a parliamentary committee in 2018 that around 31,000 people would be the immediate beneficiaries. The MHA has refused to share information on how many people have either applied or had been granted citizenship. The Hindu filed a Right to Information Act (RTI) application in June 2024 and in September 2024, the MHA refused to provide the information. An appeal was also filed with the Central Information Commission (CIC), which hears appeals from applicants who have issues with RTI responses from public authorities of the Union government. The CIC's Chief Commissioner Heeralal Samariya heard The Hindu's case on July 9. The RTI was limited to applications received on the portal, which is run by the Home Ministry as the entire process is online. The Home Ministry's representative, Ram Dayal Meena, did not specifically dispute any of The Hindu's arguments during the hearing, and when asked by the CIC if he wanted to speak, declined to make any oral submissions. A written response reiterated the MHA's earlier refusals, which simply stated that the information was 'not being maintained as desired by you'. 'Upon perusal of records and examining the facts of the case at hand, it is noted that the Appellant's queries had been appropriately answered by the concerned PIO,' Mr. Samariya wrote in his order. 'The reply is self- explanatory and information as permissible under the provisions of the RTI Act has been duly supplied to the Appellant.' The decision was arrived at the same day, and was uploaded at a later date.
