THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : A day after joining the BJP, Padmaja Venugopal – daughter of the late Congress leader K Karunakaran – said there is no ideological difference between the Congress and the BJP. More Congress leaders will join the BJP after the Lok Sabha elections, she said.
“Those days are gone. Now, people from different castes and religions work together in the BJP,” Padmaja said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday after returning from New Delhi.
Padmaja said she decided to leave the Congress after realising that the leadership was not going to act on her petitions against certain leaders who had worked to defeat her in two consecutive assembly elections.
“When I decided to end my political innings, the Congress leadership told me that they would build a memorial for K Karunakaran within a year. However, not a stone was laid. I was demoted to the KPCC executive committee from the vice president’s post. I was included in the Political Affairs Committee after I threatened to resign. I joined BJP as it has a strong leader. In the Congress, there is no leader. All of them have left,” she said.
When asked about the distance between the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhavan, and the BJP headquarters, Mararji Bhavan, a seemingly composed Padmaja said: “Both Indira Bhavan and Mararji Bhavan are like my family. Former BJP leader K G Marar used to visit my father every month.”
She said she had never opened her mind to anyone except her immediate family members.
Responding to her brother K Muraleedharan’s criticism, Padmaja said as he has shifted parties more than three times, he had no right to criticise her joining the BJP.
“I know his nature. He wouldn’t say the same thing the day after. I view my personal and political lives separately. My brother’s work from home remark is politically motivated. He is the one who knew that I was not well for one-and-a-half-years. If he was my younger brother, I would have slapped him,” she said.
Padmaja said BJP’s Suresh Gopi will win in Thrissur, ahead of Muraleedharan who was on Friday declared the Congress candidate from the constituency.
She said she will file a defamation case against Youth Congress president Rahul Mamkoottathil for having made a derogatory statement.
“What he said was against my mother. The Congress never had a culture like that. Now it has. Rahul became a leader only through TV appearances. I have one thing to say, please spare the women.”
Padmaja, who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram around noon, was given a rousing welcome by the BJP state unit. The party’s state president K Surendran, Union Ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan and district president V V Rajesh welcomed her. Hundreds of party workers also cheered for the new leader. From the airport, she went to Mararji Bhavan where Surendran invited her officially to the party’s state leadership. Surendran was all praise for the late Karunakaran, describing him as the only chief minister with a vision for the development of Kerala.
Interestingly, Padmaja’s was the first press conference there after the BJP headquarters’ inauguration on February 12.
Padmaja’s BJP entry will not dent UDF’s electoral prospects: Kunhalikutty
IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty has said that the entry of Padmaja Venugopal into the BJP would not affect the electoral prospects of the UDF. He was speaking to reporters in Malappuram on Friday. He expressed optimism about the UDF benefiting from Padmaja’s decision. “The Congress is facing the situation bravely. People in Kerala will not give much importance to the decision of Padmaja. The UDF will make significant progress in this parliamentary election,” he said. He further said the children of political leaders should also work hard to achieve success in politics.