Actors Namitha, Gayathri Raghuram among BJP’s new officer-bearers in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Former DMK MLA and deputy general secretary V P Duraiswamy, who joined the saffron party recently, has been appointed as the state vice-president of BJP along with Nainer Nagendran and eight others.
State secretaries K T Raghavan, G K Selvakumar, Karu Nagarajan and R Srinivasan have been appointed as the state general secretaries.
Sources in the party said former Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan and his supporters in the party have been sidelined in the exercise of appointing new office-bearers.
It is also a big blow to Nainar Nagendran, who was in the race for the state president. “He was expecting the general secretary post,” a source said.
Actor Gayathri Raghuram, who was removed from the party by former state president Tamilisai Soundararajan in 2018, has been appointed as state president of the cultural wing.
Actor Namitha has been appointed as the state executive member. She joined the party in the presence of J P Nadda during his maiden visit to the state in November last year.
Actor Radha Ravi who joined the party along with the Namitha was not given any posting. He was removed from DMK after his controversial statement against actor Nayantara.
Paul Kanagaraj is the new president of the party’s legal wing. He annexed his Tamil Maanila Katchi Katchi with BJP and joined with the party along with a few of his party cadres.
Former Vellore mayor and AIADMK functionary P Karthiyayini has been appointed one of the state general secretaries.
Vanathi Srinivasan, MChakravathy, K S Narendran, M Muruganandam, M N Raja, A R Mahalakshmi, Kanaga Sabapathi and Puratchi Kavidasan are among the new vice-presidents of the state unit, according party state president L Murugan.
State youth wing president Vinoj P Selvam, IT wing president C T R Nirmal Kumar and state media wing president A N S Prasad have been retained in their posts.