TIRUCHY: Thanjavur district BJP Vice president, who filed nomination for the constituency well ahead of the party announcing the candidate, was removed from the party, but he said to face the polls as an independent candidate for the segment.
The AIADMK alliance allocated the Thanjavur constituency for the BJP, and the national party had delayed in announcing a candidate.
On Friday, the State General Secretary of the party, Karuppu Muruganandam, was announced as the party candidate for the segment.
However, well before the announcement of the candidature, Muralidharan, the district BJP vice president, filed his nomination on March 30 itself and commenced his campaigning also and sought votes for the lotus, the official symbol of the BJP, and this created a flutter among the party functionaries, and the information was passed on to the state headquarters.
On Friday, the state BJP president, Nainar Nagenthran, removed Muralidharan from the party post and asked the party cadres not to have any association with him.
However, Muralidharan said, despite the party removing him, he was very interested in contesting from Thanjavur, and so, he would face the election as an independent candidate and continue to campaign for him.