The daughter of deceased sandalwood smuggler Veerappan joinedthe Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday.

Vidya Rani joined the party at an event organised in TamilNadu's Krishnagiri city, where BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao and formerUnion minister Pon Radhakrishnan were present.

"PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's schemes are for the people and I want to take them tothe people. I want to work for the poor and underprivileged irrespective oftheir caste and religion," said Rani.

Rani hasbeen running a tuition centre in Krishnagiri for the last year to supportstudents.

The TamilNadu Special Task Force had killed Veerappan and two associates Sethukuli Govindanand Chandre Gowda in an operation on October 18, 2004.