BJP leaders now troop to Jaya memorial

Sources in the BJP said that national leaders like Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have already visited Jayalalithaa’s memorial. The Union law minister, who came to Chennai for participating in a function, paid floral tributes at the memorial of Jayalalithaa and said that Jayalalithaa’s legacy should continue in Tamil Nadu. 

At a time, when the BJP is claiming that they would gain a foothold in the state, such tributes to the memorial are seen dabbling in the political activities in the state by wooing AIADMK voters. Speaking to DT Next, Vanathi Srinivasan, state general secretary of the BJP Unit, ruled out the political connection. “Though many national leaders and union ministers have come to Chennai many a time, all of them have never gone to the memorial. Union minister like Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad were good friends of Jayalalithaa. Since they could not come to attend the funeral of the former Chief Minister, they paid homage when they came here,” she said and added that the BJP would never indulge in cheap politics.  

Political observers say that BJP’s top brass visits are a clear indication that the national party is trying to garner the votes in the name of Jaya. A Marx, a political observer, said, “The national BJP leaders’ visits to the memorial of Jayalalithaa are nothing, but to garner AIADMK’s votes.”