Dissatisfied with the DMK leadership’s functional style, the former Union Minister, Napoleon, who had represented the Dravidian major in the erstwhile UPA Cabinet, joined the BJP on Sunday.
Dialling the toll-free number in the presence of BJP national president Amit Shah here, Mr. Napoleon became a member of the party in a minute. He was at once given a book to enrol 100 more into the party.
Later, he told newspersons that he quit the DMK, unconvinced with the leadership and lack of internal democracy in that party. Without naming anyone, he indicated that he was neither happy with DMK president M. Karunanidhi nor his son and party treasurer M.K. Stalin.
A known supporter of Mr. Karunanidhi’s elder son M.K. Alagiri, Mr. Napoleon said he was joining the BJP with the whole-hearted wishes and blessings of Mr. Alagiri. Claiming that he had kept away from politics for a while, the actor-turned-politician said, “he [Mr. Stalin] was acting above the leader [Karunanidhi]”.
With “no meaningful role” for him in the DMK in recent months, Mr. Napoleon had at one point, since the DMK quit the UPA, withdrawn from active politics, notwithstanding the fact that he had been working for the DMK for the past 35 years.
He now chose to join BJP at their invitation.
