Upset with BJP, S.Ve. Shekher says,'party wasn't utilising me'

Chennai, July 12: Tamil Nadu actor-turned-politician S.Ve. Shekher has taken a dig at Tamil Nadu BJP leadership for choosing south Indian actress Namitha in an election campaign for BJP for the recently concluded Tamil Nadu assembly elections 2021.

Speaking exclusively to Oneindia, Shekher said that L Murugan who was recently inducted as the Cabinet minister thought actress Namitha who assumed the responsibilities of campaigner was better and avoided me. Upset with BJP, he further said that the BJP had considered himself poor public speaker than the actress from Surat.

Lauding the efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Shekher said,''Among the world leaders who have handled the pandemic, our PM stands tall on global podium. But Tamil Nadu people failed to understand him for various reasons.''

''Prime Minister Narendra Modi will come to power again after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the new government will be formed under his leadership when he will become the prime mnister for the third time. For the first time in India's history, Modi led BJP has given the real secular government in the nation while Congress was spreading the pseudo secularism among the people,'' he also said.

Denouncing the idea of creating a new Union Territory of 'Kongu Nadu' by bifurcating Tamil Nadu, Sekhar said,''The debate on "Ondriya Arasu" (Union Goverment) is not necessary. States cannot form The centre, Only the central government can create states. The nation was divided into many states on the basis of Languages. It is always good to create new states for the sake of people's welfare and region's growth.''

I had given an assurance to PM Modi that I will never contest any election, but will be available for campaign during the polls. But Tamil Nadu BJP leadership under L Murugan avoided and ignored me.

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It should be noted that in the recently conculded assembly polls, L Murugan had lost to DMK'S N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj in the Dharapuram constituency by a margin of 812 votes but, for the first time in two decades.

''They failed to recognize my service to the party, instead they selected actress Namitha for the campaign. L Murugan and organizing Secretary Keshava Vinayagam thought that the actress could pull the crowd with her "excellent speech" in the Polls,'' says Shekar.

Annamalai as Tamil Nadu BJP President

Speaking on the appointment of former IPS officer Annamalai as the chief of TN BJP, Shekhar said,''Replacing Murugan, the party high command has appointed Annamalai the new BJP state President K Annamalai. Its a welcome move.''

He further said,''Annamalai was a police officer, straightforward. He will serve the party, state and the country well. He is very different, innovative and scientific person, adding that the BJP leadership should change more heads in the TN unit of BJP. I hope Annamalai will get a free hand to do this and will do.''

''Born in a farmer's family, i hope Annamalai knows how to remove the 'weeds' from the field. So he has to apply the same in the party too.''

I never tried to get the President post. I had said that I will obey the party decision if it decides to ask me to lead the party. I am not a person to lobby the high command for any post. I never lobbied for me.

Jayalalitha invited me, even Rahul Gandhi too invited me to join Congress. But I accepted the call of PM Modi. But Tamil Nadu BJP has failed to utilize me well.

''I was never invited to party meetings in BJP headquarters in Chennai. Tamilisai never invited, L Murugan also failed to call me. There are two major reasons for the TN BJP's growth and fall, one is the president of the party unit and another is Organizing Secretary Kesava Vinayagam,'' he stressed again.

Why BJP lost its plot in Tamil Nadu? What went wrong for the prty?

With South India once again obstructing BJP's expansion plans beyond North and the Northeast, Shekhar said that the Tamil Nadu BJP should have translated the Central govt's schemes in Tamil and propagated all over the state, they did not do. At least they should have put up banners in all ration shops, but they failed. This is the reason for the fall of BJP in Tamil Nadu.

Party should be functioning without any hurdles. Minimum 300 meetings should have been arranged by the party. There should have been minimum 500 speakers. I had written a detailed letter in this regard to Kesava Vinayagam, but as they had many other major works, they might have failed to read my letters.

Boycotted by the party

I am straight forward, that may be reason why I was boycotted by the party. Not only me, many film stars facing the same issue. Parties should not ignore Cinema stars in the party and should not use them only for campaigns. I have already told this to PM Modi himself when I met him Delhi.

Leaders should be available and approachable to people. But nowadays leaders are keeping a distance between themselves and the people. Annamalai should break this.

There was talk about financial frauds in TN BJP. I don't know anything about it. Annamalai will take care of that. He was a policeman, so he can find out easily. Election commission is also there, they will look into this. DMK cannot achieve anything in Delhi, though they have 38 MPs in the Lok sabha.