New Delhi: Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of veteran social gathering chief and four-time state chief minister Okay. Karunakaran, joined the Bharatiya Janata Occasion Thursday, a month forward of the Lok Sabha polls.
Talking to ThePrint, Padmaja mentioned she had been “humiliated” within the Congress, including, “They even banned my photograph in posters.”
“Just a few leaders conspired to defeat me within the Thrissur meeting election in 2021 and after I complained, no motion was taken,” she alleged, including that she was “becoming a member of the BJP with none situations”.
“I’m not demanding any Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha seat,” she asserted.
Padmaja had contested and was defeated within the final two meeting elections from Thrissur constituency, and misplaced the Mukundapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2004, however rose within the social gathering as Thrissur district president and was common secretary of the Congress’s Kerala unit when she resigned.
Whereas her brother, Congress MP Okay. Muraleedharan, has hit out at her for “betraying” their father’s ideology, one other Congress chief from the state mentioned, “She had been sulking for the final two months, after the Congress didn’t take into account her for the Rajya Sabha polls, and for the Lok Sabha, it determined to repeat all sitting MPs. Her suggestion for reconstitution of the district committee was ignored and her demand for a memorial for her father (in Thrissur) was additionally not thought-about.”
The Communist Occasion of India (Marxist), which leads the state’s Left Democratic Entrance (LDF) authorities, took the chance to nook the Congress. M.V. Govindan, state secretary of the CPI(M), advised reporters Wednesday, “The Congress is shedding its leaders each day. It has misplaced credibility to battle the BJP.”
Talking about Padmaja’s entry, BJP state common secretary George Kurian advised ThePrint that “the social gathering is getting large traction in Kerala and leaders from the Congress have realised that the BJP might be another. That’s the reason many leaders are deserting the Congress.”
“The social gathering is optimistic about profitable the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat and Padmaja’s entry will enhance the BJP’s prospects in Kerala,” he added.
A yr in the past, Anil Antony, the son of one other veteran Congressman and former Kerala CM, A.Okay. Antony, had joined the BJP. The social gathering Saturday introduced him as its candidate for the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency.
One other state BJP chief argued that “high-profile inductions of the kin of former chief ministers has its personal benefits”. “It would create a buzz for the social gathering and assist win at the very least two-three Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, though the social gathering is trying to win 5 seats at the very least,” he asserted.
Padmaja had beforehand fought the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 from the erstwhile Mukundapuram (now Chalakudy) seat however misplaced. The BJP has now allotted Chalakudy to its associate, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, which has not but declared its candidate. Kerala has a complete of 20 Lok Sabha seats.
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‘Snapping all ties along with her,’ says Muraleedharan
Talking to reporters, Muraleedharan, who’s in search of re-election from the Vatakara constituency, mentioned Padmaja becoming a member of the BJP was “very disturbing information”.
“I’ve been attempting to name for the final three days, however she has blocked me. She is my sister however my father wouldn’t condone her (act). I’m snapping all ties along with her,” he mentioned.
Karunakaran and Muraleedharan had left the Congress in 2004 and fashioned Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran), however the social gathering didn’t make any influence and so they returned to the Congress in subsequent years.
Padmaja advised the media Thursday that she had performed an important function in bringing them again into the social gathering, though her brother was in opposition to her becoming a member of politics. She has additionally mentioned that her brother had no proper to criticise her politics.
After Karunakaran handed away in 2010, the brother and sister have fought for his political legacy.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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