The ardent fans of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are over the moon after the MS Dhoni-led fleet won the finals of IPL 2023 against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday and lifted the title for the fifth time. The fans across and beyond the borders are celebrating the stupendous victory and CSK's all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's brilliant knock, that drove the team towards a thrilling triumph. 

The celebrations were beyond politics and when several politicians and celebrities came out as a fanboy of CSK and cricket and relished the team's historical victory, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai had come with a weird remark of labelling Ravindra Jadeja as a BJP karyakarta and that he is proud that a BJP karyakarta had hit the winning runs in the IPL finals. 

Annamalai, who is one of the controversial figures in Tamil Nadu, made this remark while speaking to a Tamil news channel and he reiterated what has become a peculiar claim on social media. The IPL 2023 final was held on Monday in the reserve day in Ahmedabad during which CSK took on GT in the summit clash. When GT put 214 runs on board, CSK was given a target of 171 runs with 15 overs under the Duckworth Lewis method in the wake of rainfall interruption amidst the neck and neck battle. 

Ravindra Jadeja was at the crease during the death overs, when the chase became arduous. As Dhoni got dismissed for golden duck, the onus was on Jadeja and CSK needed 13 runs to win in the final over that was bowled by Mohit Sharma. In the final two balls, CSK needed ten runs and Jadeja was on the strike. Eventually, Jadeja smashed the last two balls to six and four respectively and led CSK to register a thumping victory. 

Ravindra Jadeja's knock has become talk of the town. The 34-year-old all-rounder is a native of Gujarat and his wife Rivaba Jadeja is a BJP MLA in Gujarat. In light of Rivaba's association with BJP, Annamalai has said that Ravindra Jadeja is also a BJP karyakarta and that he is proud of Jadeja's heroics in the final. Annamalai's remark has come when there is no evidence that Ravindra Jadeja is officially affiliated with BJP, though he publicly came out as a supporter of Modi regime several times.

Speaking to a Tamil news channel, Annamalai said, "Jadeja is a BJP karyakarta and he is from Gujarat. His wife is a BJP MLA. I am also proud as a Tamilian. There were more Tamil people in GT than in CSK and it should be celebrated." Annamalai praised GT's young batter Sai Sudarshan's performance in the final. Sudarshan is a native of Chennai and he played for GT in this season and in the final against CSK, he scored 96 runs and gave a hard chasing for CSK. 

By citing that Sai Sudarshan is from Chennai, Annamalai said, "96 runs were scored by a Tamilian, we will also celebrate that. Though there is no single Tamilian in CSK, we will celebrate CSK because of MS Dhoni. We are proud that the winning run was scored by a BJP karyakarta." It is pertinent to note that Jadeja's wife Rivaba joined BJP in 2019, hours after Jadeja tweeted that he supports BJP. In the 2022 Gujarat polls, Rivaba contested in the Jamnagar North constituency and became an MLA after winning the election at a margin of over 80,000 votes.