Prominent persons from other parties join AIADMK

They joined the party on Sunday in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his cabinet colleagues in Vellore.

The big catch was sitting Vellore DMK MLA P Karthikeyan’s brother P Neelakantam, former chairman of the Vellore/Tiruvannamalai cooperative milk producers’ union and Karthikeyan’s nephew P Raja. Both joined the ruling dispensation from the AMMK and DMK respectively.

Neelakantam as an AMMK functionary had worked for AMMK Vellore Lok Sabha candidate K Pandurangan in the countermanded April 18 poll.

Another heavyweight was former AIADMK Vellore district secretary LKB Vasu, who switched over to the AMMK and now returned to the parent party. From the Congress, N Fayaz Ahamed alias Masthan, vice president of the Vellore town minorities wing, along with around 40 members from his community joined the AIADMK.

Those present in the function included NDA candidate AC Shanmugam and district strong man and Commercial Taxes Minister KC Veeramani and his ministerial colleagues.