Chennai, Jul 21 (PTI) AIADMK's organising secretary and former MP Anwar Raja, who is the minority face of the opposition party in Ramanathapuram, joined the DMK in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin here on Monday.

The strongman from Ramanathapuram, who has been critical of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami since the party revived poll ties with the BJP, said he was left with no option but to join the DMK to protect Tamil Nadu from the threats, including Hindi imposition and state autonomy posed by the BJP led government at the Centre.

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Later, addressing reporters, Raja said, "The BJP's agenda is to destroy the AIADMK first and then fight against the DMK. Not even once Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that Palaniswami would be the Chief Minister candidate. He had only said that NDA would form the government in Tamil Nadu."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)