New Delhi: Tamil Nadu BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday addressed the "unwarranted speculation" surrounding a viral video in which she was seen in a conversation with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The clip, shot during the oath-taking ceremony of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu earlier this week, showed Mr Shah in an animated conversation with her.
After social media users interpreted it as the Home Minister "scolding" her, Ms Soundararajan cleared the air, saying the interaction had been misinterpreted.
In a post on X, she claimed he was simply advising her "to carry out the political and constituency work intensively."
Here are 5 facts about Tamilisai Soundararajan:
1. Tamilisai Soundararajan is the daughter of senior Congress leader Kumari Anandan. She graduated with a medical degree (MBBS) from Madras Medical College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She specialised in gynaecology and obstetrics. Ms Soundararajan also received advanced training in sonology and foetal therapy in Canada, focusing on ultrasound diagnostics and foetal care.
2. Ms Soundararajan was elected as a student leader at the Madras Medical College. Despite her family's long association with Congress, she gravitated to the BJP's ideology.
3. After starting as South Chennai District Medical Wing Secretary of the BJP, Ms Soundararajan has served in various roles within the party's Tamil Nadu unit since 1999. She advanced to State General Secretary, All India Co-Convenor (Medical Wing for Southern States), State General Secretary again in 2007, State Vice President in 2010, and National Secretary for All India BJP in 2013. She was appointed the President of the party's Tamil Nadu unit in 2014, a position she held for five years.
4. In 2019, she was appointed the Governor of Telangana, the first woman to assume the role. Two years later, she was given the additional charge of Puducherry.
5. Ms Soundararajan resigned from her position on March 18, 2024, and rejoined the BJP two days later. She lost the 2024 Lok Sabha election against DMK's Tamizhachi Thangapandian from the South Chennai Lok Sabha seat. In 2019, too, she contested unsuccessfully from the Thoothukudi seat and lost to DMK MP Kanimozhi.