Tirupur MLA C. Govindasamy, who was expelled from CPI (M) recently, has announced that he would join Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on August 25.
"Myself, along with 20,000 supporters, are going to join DMK in the presence of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin at Chennai on the date," he said here on Monday.
The decision of joining DMK, according to him, has been taken after consulting his supporters who "unanimously wanted him to join DMK which came up with an array of pro-people welfare schemes".
Mr Govindasamy criticised the CPI (M) leadership stating that the "present set of leaders did not have the charisma and vision of legends like Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet".
"This has thus led to erosion in values which the party once held prestigiously that eventually resulted in party's defeats in the last Parliament elections and also in the civic body elections in West Bengal," he observed.
He said that the CPI (M) leaders had failed miserably to control the factional fights in Kerala between Achutanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan groups.
In Tamil Nadu, Mr Govindasamy said CPI (M) leadership went ahead with the decision to support AIADMK against the opinion of the majority of people within the party and the supporters.
