Actor-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar addresses a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday. Khushbu joined the BJP on Monday.
Actor-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar has called the grand old party a 'mentally retarded' party. Khushbu joined the BJP on Monday after quitting the Congress. Speaking to media soon after landing in Chennai on Tuesday afternoon, Khushbu said that she was loyal to the Congress, but the 'party disrespected me'.
"They (the Congress) don't want an intelligent woman. To say that I was seen only as an actress, shows the Congress' cheap thoughts," the south superstar said as she cited comments by Tamil Nadu Congress leaders.
Khushbu joined the BJP in Delhi on Monday in the presence of BJP's national general secretary CT Ravi and later met BJP president JP Nadda. She praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying if the nation has to 'move forward' it needs the leadership of Modi. Khushbu, 50, featured in more than 200 movies.
Khushbu's decision to join the BJP ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls scheduled next year is being seen as the saffron party's attempt to ramp up its organisation in the southern state where it has a very weak presence.
Khushbu had started her political career with the DMK in 2010 when it was in power. She joined the Congress in 2014. She resigned from the grand old party on Monday after six years and wrote a scathing letter to party's national president Sonia Gandhi. The actor said that individuals like her were being suppressed by "few elements seated at higher levels within the party".
Several popular actors from Tamil Nandu have joined the BJP in the state in recent times. The list of actors and movie field celebrities who have joined the saffron party includes Khushbu, Radha Ravi, Gouthami, Namitha, Gangai Amaran, Kutti Padmini, Gayathri Raghuram, S.Ve. Shekher, Perarasu, Kasturi Raja, Power Star Srinivasan, Pyramid Natarajan and others.
On Monday, apart from Khushbu, former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official Saravana Kumar also joined the BJP. He is the second former bureaucrat to have joined the BJP after K Annamalai, a 2011 batch IPS officer who resigned from service in 2019. Sometime back DMK's Deputy General Secretary VP Duraisamy also joined the BJP.
