At least fifteen former legislators from Tamil Nadu have joined the BJP on Wednesday - February 7 in the presence of senior party leaders in Delhi. The shocking switchover has come months ahead of the general elections and days after a cohort of BJP functionaries in Tamil Nadu have joined the state ruling DMK. 

The development holds significance as the BJP is taking efforts to strengthen its presence in the state. The party has already begun negotiations to build a new alliance after the exit of the ADMK and it appears that the BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu would accommodate parties like Vijayakanth-established DMDK, TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK, and TMC, which is led by former Union Minister GK Vasan.

According to reports, of these fifteen former MLAs who joined BJP, most of them belong to the ADMK. They joined in the presence of Union Ministers of State L Murugan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar and the state BJP chief in Delhi.

By welcoming them into the saffron camp, Tamil Nadu BJP chief said that these former legislators bring a wealth of experience to the BJP and want to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Modi as he is coming back to power for a third consecutive term. 

According to PTI, the Tamil Nadu BJP chief further said, "Tamil Nadu is going the Bharatiya Janata Party way. Union Minister of State Chandrasekhar said the joining at such a big scale shows Modi's popularity in a state like Tamil Nadu. 

He said, "It is clear that every citizen of India wants the transformation of the last ten years to continue." The Union Minister further cited Modi's recent projection that the BJP is going to win 370 seats in the Lok Sabha polls and claimed that many of these new seats will come from Tamil Nadu.