THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Days after Congress political affairs committee member Padmaja Venugopal’s entry into the BJP, more leaders from the grand old party followed in her path.
On Thursday, at the BJP’s Thiruvananthapuram parliament office, former Kerala Sports Council president at the time of the last UDF government and veteran sports star Padmini Thomas and two district Congress general secretaries received saffron party membership from the state president K Surendran with a slew of local workers.
Along with Padmini Thomas who had won a silver medal in the 1982 Asian Games, her son Dany John Selvan also took membership of the BJP. The two DCC general secretaries who joined the BJP are Thampanoor Satheesh and Udayan. Their shift to the BJP could hit the Congress in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.
Former Poovar grama panchayat president and former Matsya Thozhilali Congress state president Anto Merceline, former Kerala University Union Councillor and KSU leader Parasuraman Thampi, former AAP convener Madhusudhanan Nair and Congress supporters from coastal areas also took membership.
Speaking on the occasion, BJP president K Surendran claimed no one would hit the streets of Kerala in protest against the implementation of the Citizen (Amendment) Act. “No member from the Muslim community will also protest against CAA. The people have lost faith in both the CPM and Congress,” he said. BJP candidate Rajiv Chandrasekhar, O Rajagopal and VV Rajesh were also present.