Days after ticket for Antony’s son, BJP inducts Kerala ex-CM Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja

Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of veteran party leader and four-time state chief minister K. Karunakaran, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party Thursday, a month ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to ThePrint, Padmaja said she had been “humiliated” in the Congress, adding, “They even banned my photo in posters.”

“A few leaders conspired to defeat me in the Thrissur assembly election in 2021 and when I complained, no action was taken,” she alleged, adding that she was “joining the BJP without any conditions”.

“I am not demanding any Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha seat,” she asserted.

Padmaja had contested and was defeated in the last two assembly elections from Thrissur constituency, and lost the Mukundapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2004, but rose in the party as Thrissur district president and was general secretary of the Congress’s Kerala unit when she resigned.

While her brother, Congress MP K. Muraleedharan, has hit out at her for “betraying” their father’s ideology, another Congress leader from the state said, “She had been sulking for the last two months, after the Congress did not consider her for the Rajya Sabha polls, and for the Lok Sabha, it decided 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 also not considered.”

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which leads the state’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, took the opportunity to corner the Congress. M.V. Govindan, state secretary of the CPI(M), told reporters Wednesday, “The Congress is losing its leaders every day. It has lost credibility to fight the BJP.”

Speaking about Padmaja’s entry, BJP state general secretary George Kurian told ThePrint that “the party is getting huge traction in Kerala and leaders from the Congress have realised that the BJP can be an alternative. That is why many leaders are deserting the Congress.”

“The party is optimistic about winning the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat and Padmaja’s entry will improve the BJP’s prospects in Kerala,” he added.

A year ago, Anil Antony, the son of another veteran Congressman and former Kerala CM, A.K. Antony, had joined the BJP. The party Saturday announced him as its candidate for the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency.

Another state BJP leader argued that “high-profile inductions of the kin of former chief ministers has its own advantages”. “It will create a buzz for the party and help win at least two-three Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, although the party is looking to win five seats at least,” he asserted.

Padmaja had previously fought the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 from the erstwhile Mukundapuram (now Chalakudy) seat but lost. The BJP has now allocated Chalakudy to its partner, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, which has not yet declared its candidate. Kerala has a total of 20 Lok Sabha seats.

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‘Snapping all ties with her,’ says Muraleedharan

Speaking to reporters, Muraleedharan, who is seeking re-election from the Vatakara constituency, said Padmaja joining the BJP was “very disturbing news”.

“I have been trying to call for the last three days, but she has blocked me. She is my sister but my father would not condone her (act). I am snapping all ties with her,” he said.

Karunakaran and Muraleedharan had left the Congress in 2004 and formed Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran), but the party failed to make any impact and they returned to the Congress in subsequent years.

Padmaja told the media Thursday that she had played a crucial role in bringing them back into the party, although her brother was against her joining politics. She has also said that her brother had no right to criticise her politics.

After Karunakaran passed away in 2010, the brother and sister have fought for his political legacy.

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