Former union minister E Ponnusamy joins BJP

Former union minister E Ponnusamy joins BJP

Former union minister E Ponnusamy on Saturday joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in Delhi.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah formally welcomed E Ponnusamy later at a meeting in Delhi.

E Ponnusamy was earlier a member of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the regional political party of Tamil Nadu.

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He had supported Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswami during the split of AIADMKinto Sasikala and EPS-OPS faction in 2017.

Ponnusamy, an influential dalit leader in the state, was associated with the PMK for about 15 years.He had joined the AIADMK last year.He was Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas during 1999-2001 when the PMK was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance government.