BJP nominee for Mayor's post joins AIADMK

The BJP nominee whose withdrawal from the race to the Mayor's post for Tirunelveli Corporation last week allowed her AIADMK rival get elected unopposed, joined the Jayalalithaa-led party on Friday.

GPR Vellaiammal was among the scores of other party workers who joined AIADMK in the presence of its general secretary Jayalalithaa here. Vellaiyammal's husband Ganesa Perumalraja, state secretary of the BJP's Traders Wing, also quit the saffron party and joined AIADMK, a party release here said.

The BJP, which had aimed to test its fortunes in the September 18 bypolls to various local bodies in the backdrop of boycott by DMK and support by BJP's allies, had suffered a jolt last week when Vellaiyammal withdrew from the elections.

Her rival, AIADMK's E Bhuvaneswari was elected unopposed as these two candidates alone were in fray following scrutiny of nomination papers.

The state BJP high command had cried foul over the incident, alleging that Vellaiyammal had been 'threatened' to withdraw.

Besides these two, scores of workers and office-bearers of other parties--DMDK, PMK, MDMK and Congress, also joined AIADMK, the release added.