Anwhar Raajha
Credit: X/@AnwerRaja_MP
Chennai: Senior AIADMK leader Anwhar Raajhaa, one of the prominent Muslim faces, quit the party on Monday and joined arch-rival DMK, in the first casualty of the party’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After Raajhaa arrived at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami expelled him from the party.
Raajhaa, who was the organising secretary, is a founding member of the AIADMK since 1972 and is a grassroots leader having been the chairman of Mandapam Panchayat Union in the minority-dominated Ramanathapuram region. He served as Labour and Employment Minister in J Jayalalithaa’s cabinet from 2001-2006 and was Ramanathapuram MP from 2014 to 2019 during which he had opposed the Triple Talaq bill.
“AIADMK is not just in an alliance with the BJP. The party has deviated from its Dravidian ideology and fallen into the hands of the BJP,” Raajhaa charged, after meeting DMK President M K Stalin and joining the party.
Raajhaa has been critical of the AIADMK and BJP alliance for the past few weeks and had even said that the saffron party will never get a toehold in Tamil Nadu despite its efforts.
He becomes the first to quit the AIADMK by citing its alliance with the BJP – a chunk of the AIADMK functionaries and cadre seem to be upset with the party rejoining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with speculation mounting whether more leaders will join him.
After the AIADMK quit the NDA in September 2023, Palaniswami deputed Raajhaa to reach out to minorities’ outfits to enlist their support for the party, but the efforts were not successful with Muslims and Christians overwhelmingly voting for the DMK alliance.
His induction into the DMK will come as a boost for the ruling party in Ramanathapuram district, which has a sizable Muslim and Christian population, ahead of the 2026 assembly polls. Palaniswami, in a statement, said he was expelling Raajhaa for bringing disrepute to the AIADMK.
Raajhaa also attacked Palaniswami for joining with the BJP and playing into its agenda of breaking the AIADMK. “Amit Shah has in the past few weeks said there will be a coalition government in Tamil Nadu in which the BJP will be a part. Not once has he said that Palaniswami will be the chief minister. He has not mentioned Palaniswami’s name even once,” Raajhaa said.
“Just like how Trump kept saying that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan, EPS continues to claim that he is the chief ministerial candidate,” he added.
This is the second time Raajha has been expelled from the AIADMK – he was sacked in November 2021 for backing V K Sasikala’s re-entry into the party. However, he rejoined the party in 2023.