In what could come as a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Padmaja Venugopal joined the saffron camp on Thursday.
Padmaja, daughter of late Congress stalwart K. Karunakaran, joined the BJP in the presence of the senior leaders, including the party’s Kerala in-charge and former Union minister Prakash Javadekar.
Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Padmaja said the Congress lacked a strong leadership and that she had not been happy with the grand old party for the last several years.
"I decided to quit because I was not happy with the Congress for so many years, especially since the last assembly elections in the state (Kerala)," she told reporters.
Padmaja claimed she had tried to reach out to the Congress leadership several times to discuss her grievances but had never been given an appointment.
"There should be a strong leadership in every party. In Congress, there is no leadership. I have great respect for Sonia Ji, but I can't see her. She didn't give (me) an appointment,” she said.
Terming Padmaja’s move as a "breach of confidence", Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K. Sudhakaran said there were no reasons for her to leave the party.
Sudhakaran said he himself had taken many decisions to protect Padmaja’s interests, but she disregarded all that to leave the party.
Earlier, Padmaja’s husband, Venugopal told Manorama News that she had been sidelined within the party for the past few years. He alleged that Padmaja was deliberately defeated by a section of the Congress during the recent assembly election in Thrissur, and the party leaders turned a deaf ear to her complaints.
Venugopal further alleged that the Congress leaders did not even take any initiative to form a Trust in the name of Karunakaran, despite the government allotting land for the purpose.
Padmaja’s brother and senior Congress leader K. Muraleedharan told the media that her decision was a betrayal and would not benefit the saffron party in any way.
“Taking Padmaja will not benefit the BJP. It will also not affect our determination to fight. We will push the BJP to the third spot everywhere, including in seats where they hope to win. This betrayal would be answered through the EVMs," he said.
