Following remarks critical of the AIADMK alliance with the BJP, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has expelled senior leader and former MP A Anwhar Raajhaa from the party’s primary membership.
Raajhaa, the Muslim face of the party and party’s current minority wing secretary, was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from Ramanathapuram constituency as an AIADMK candidate in the 2014 election. Previously, he served as Minister of Labour and Employment from 2001 to 2006.
The 72-year-old politician had been with the AIADMK since its formation by M G Ramachandran.
AIADMK coordinator O Panneeraselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami in a joint statement said that Raajhaa was removed from the party and all responsibilities for “anti-party activities.”
Quoting senior AIADMK leaders, Indian Express reported that Raajhaa’s staunch opposition to the alliance with the BJP invited this action. “He blamed the alliance for the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections,” AIADMK leaders said.
A Anwhar Raajhaa, former labour minister Nilofer Kafeel and late Rajya Sabha member A. Mohammedjan were the three prominent Muslim faces of AIADMK.
Kafeel had faced strict action from the party in May this year and Mohammed Jan, died this year in March.
AIADMK had become “a party without Muslims” with the removal of Raajha, the party leaders said to the newspaper.
“These were leaders who ensured the minorities backed the AIADMK when Jayalalithaa was alive. However, things have changed since Palaniswami became CM,” a Raajhaa supporter said to Indian Express.
Raajhaa who was known as a critic of the BJP, in 2018, criticised the triple talaq legislation in Lok Sabha and he was responsible for AIADMK’s decision to stage a walkout at the time of the Lok Sabha adopting the Bill.
Raajhaa also has been publicly pushing for the readmission of V.K.Sasikala, former interim general secretary of the party.
