Audio gate hits Tamil Nadu BJP; one functionary suspended for six months

A young BJP functionary, who recently switched over from the DMK, was caught verbally abusing Daisy Charan, chief of the state minorities wing, in a telephone conversation.

The leaked audio tape of the conversation between the two BJP functionaries also led to the suspension of actor Gayathri Raguramm, who publicly criticised the state unit's decision to induct people from parties like the DMK.

After being suspended from BJP for six months, Raguramm, chief of art & culture and other state & overseas Tamil development departments, trained her guns on state chief K Annamalai, saying "he wanted me out from day one."

It all began when an audio clip of the conversation between Suriya Siva, son of DMK Rajya Sabha member 'Tiruchi' Siva, using derogatory language and threatening Charan, who is a doctor by profession, surfaced on social media. Siva, who is the secretary of the OBC wing of TN BJP and takes on the DMK in YouTube interviews, is heard telling Charan that he has the potential to ensure that she doesn't practice as a doctor and even "kill you".

"You even take this (clip) to (K) Annamalai. I don't bother," Surya is heard telling Charan. Hours after the audio clip went viral on social media, Annamalai issued a statement barring Surya from participating in party-related events till the inquiry committee submits a report.

"A telephonic conversation between Surya and Charan came to my notice in the morning. I have asked Kanaka Sabapathy, vice-president of the TN BJP and head of the disciplinary committee, to investigate the incident and submit a report in seven days," Annamalai said in a statement. DH could not independently verify the audio clip.

Even before Annamalai released the statement, Raguramm took to Twitter to demand action against Surya for abusing women and questioned the decision to induct him into the party. "He (Surya) said he would cut the tongue of people who abuse women, and today he has abused his own party colleague. It is a mistake to have accommodated such people in state-level posts," Raguramm wrote on her Twitter page.

She also implied that the party leadership (read Annamalai) hasn’t realised that a "few vested interests" and "turncoats" are quite dangerous to the BJP. Within a few hours of the criticism, Annamalai released a statement announcing that Raguramm has been suspended from the party for six months for bringing "disrepute" to the BJP.

In response, Raguramm said Annamalai always wanted her out from day one and that she will come back stronger. "I will not accept that I'm against the BJP party. I will smack anyone who says that. No individual is a party. This is how (people in) power can take any decision without an enquiry," she said.

In a related development, Annamalai also asked party leaders, who aren’t official spokespersons, not to give interviews to YouTube channels without prior permission from the head of the media wing.