Tamil superstar actress Gautami quits BJP after 25 years, citing lack of support

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Tamil superstar Kamal Haasan's former partner Gautami Tadimalla on Monday resigned from the saffron party. She cited a lack of support from the BJP in times of crises. She said in her resignation letter that she joined the party 25 years ago to contribute towards her efforts towards nation building. Gautami had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1997 under the leadership of former Deputy Prime Minister of India LK Advani. She also campaigned for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the late 1990s in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.  Tadimalla, however, took a break from politics after her daughter was born. She came back to the BJP in 2017 and was appointed as the in-charge of the Rajapalyam Assembly constituency in 2021. “It is with a very heavy heart and deep disillusionment that I have taken the decision to resign my membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party. I had joined the Party 25 years ago to contribute my efforts towards Nation building. Even through all the challenges I have faced in my life, I have honoured that commitment. Yet today I stand at an unimaginable crisis point in my life and find that not only do I not have any support from the Party and leaders, but it has also come to my knowledge that several amongst them have been actively helping and supporting the very person who has betrayed my trust and cheated me of my life earnings," Tadimalla said in her resignation letter. 

“I am at the point where my daughter and I should have been settled, safe and secure, and yet I found to my horror that Mr. C Alagappan has swindled me of my money, property and documents,” Tadimalla said.“Mr. Alagappan had approached me around 20 years ago seeing my vulnerability and isolation, as I was not only an orphan who had just lost both my parents, but also a single mother with an infant child. He insinuated himself and his family into my life under the guise of a caring elder person. It was in this situation around 20 years ago that I entrusted him with the sale and documents of several of my lands, and it was just recently that I discovered he had defrauded me of the same; all while pretending to welcome me and my daughter as a part of his family,” she added. Tadimalla detailed her struggle for justice in her letter, indicating that she has followed the legal processes of the country and filed multiple complaints but found that the “process has been inexplicably dragging on.” The actor-turned-politician also alleged a “complete lack of support” from her party, claiming that several senior members of the BJP have been “enabling Mr. Alagappan in dodging justice and absconding since the last 40 days even after the FIRs have been filed.” “However, I still have hope that my Chief Minister, my police department and my judicial system will prevail and give me the justice that I seek,” Tadimalla wrote. “I write this letter of resignation today in great pain and sorrow, but with very firm resolve. I am fighting for justice for myself and my child's future as a lone woman and a single parent,” she concluded. Gautami was one of the leading South Indian actresses from 1987 to 1998.