Over 30 Congress activists head to join BJP in Thrissur; Padmaja says never influenced anyone

Thrissur: In a big jolt to Congress, more activists in Thrissur have decided to follow former Chief Minister K Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal's footsteps and join the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabah polls.
Manorama News reported that over 30 activists, including Youth Congress workers, would join the saffron party in the coming days. 

Addressing a BJP event in Thrissur, Padmaja said that many of her loyalists within the Congress expressed interest in joining the BJP. She asserted that she never influenced anyone to quit their party. Her brother, K Muraleedharan, is the UDF candidate from Thrissur.

Taking a dig at Congress, she rubbished the criticisms against her over associating with the BJP. “My father had once visited Delhi for meeting then AICC president Sonia Gandhi. But he was not allowed to meet her. He returned home with immense grief. Only I saw him in such a situation. No other Congress activist realised his pain. Following this incident, he formed a new party and joined hands with the CPM. At that time no one blamed him. But now, everyone is attacking me for quitting the Congress,” she said. 

“When I left the Congress, many of my loyalists told me that they had lost a shelter with my exit. They wanted to join the BJP and I just welcomed them. So far, I never influenced any Congress member to leave the party. But I will definitely show what I can do as a BJP member after the elections,” she added.

Padmaja officially joined the BJP on March 7. Following this, Karunakaran's close aide Thampanoor Satheesh and Asian Games medalist and former president of Kerala Sports Council Padmini Thomas also took BJP's membership.