The leaders who have left the party were associated with BJP's IT wing

CHENNAI: In a major setback for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu (Chennai West), 13 office bearers of BJP have quit the party and joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Wednesday (March 8). The leaders who have left the party were associated with BJP's IT wing.

IT wing district president Anderson said that even after working for years, an unusual situation has remained in the party, that is why he resigned from the post. 

Earlier on Sunday, BJP's Tamil Nadu IT wing chief CTR Nirmal Kumar resigned from the party and attacked party state president K. Annamalai. Within hours of announcing his resignation, he met AIADMK interim chief K Palaniswami and joined the main opposition party. In a statement uploaded on his Twitter account, Kumar accused the party's state leadership of neglecting party workers and accused Annamalai of "surveillance" against several people.

However, responding to Kumar's allegations, Annamalai's close associate and Tamil Nadu BJP Sports and Skill Development Cell president Amar Prasad Reddy termed the allegations of "surveillance" as "baseless". Apart from this, three more BJP leaders joined the AIADMK on Sunday.