AIADMK's Anwar Raajhaa, deserts party, joins ruling DMK

In a major blow to the principal opposition, AIADMK, ahead of the 2026 Assembly election, the party's prominent Muslim face and former minister Anwar Raajhaa (photo), a vocal critic of the alliance with the BJP, joined the ruling DMK in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday.

- M C RAJAN

On joining the DMK, he told the media that the BJP would gobble up and destroy the AIADMK as it had done other regional parties across the country. "Derailed from its ideological path, the AIADMK is now hostage to the BJP. Whichever party the BJP aligns with, devouring and destroying them is its intention, as was the case with the Shiv Sena and National Congress Party. Wiping out the AIADMK and confronting the DMK is the BJP's agenda," he told mediapersons, explaining the reason for leaving the party he had been associated with for more than five decades.