Slain Smuggler Veerappan's Daughter is BJP's Youth Wing Leader in TN, Says She Believes in 'Social Service'

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struggles to stay afloat in Tamil Nadu ahead of elections next year, Vidhya Veerappan was recently appointed as the vice-president of the party's youth wing in the state.

The 29-year-old law graduate is the daughter of slain sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, who operated in the forest areas in Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. Veerappan was associated with the deaths of over 150 people, including police and forest officers, and the poaching of over 100 elephants, as reported by The Indian Express.

The forest brigand was gunned down by a Special Task Force (STF) of the Tamil Nadu Police in 2004. The STF was headed by K Vijay Kumar, who later went on to become a security advisor in the Union Home Ministry. In his book on Veerappan's life, Kumar wrote about how his daughter Vidhya was born after her mother surrendered to the police. She was later named "Vidhya Rani" by an STF officer.

Vidhya, who was informed about her appointment through a Facebook post by the party leadership, said that her main agenda was "social service".

Taking about her father, Vidhya said that she had met him only once when she was 6-7 years old during her visit to her grandfather’s village for vacations. "He came to where we were playing, spent a few minutes talking to me, and left," she said. She remembers her father telling her become a doctor and serve people, and it was his stories that motivated her to do social service.

"He was never into politics but his approach and actions were based on his understanding of the world around him. There are many interpretations about his work for the Vanniyar community," she added.

Her mother Muthulakshmi is still affiliated with the Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK), an offshoot of the PMK, a Vanniyar party and NDA ally.

Vidhya, who runs a school for children, joined the BJP in February, a couple of years after she was first introduced to former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan. After she told him she was interested in social service, he suggested her to join the party, she said.