Kozhikode: Four months after his shock defeat in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan slammed his party leadership for shifting him from his seat in Vadakara.

Addressing a party event in Kozhikode, Muraleedharan equated the decision to field him from Thrissur constituency to boarding a vehicle on the verge of breakdown.

“I was lucky enough to get out of it alive,” the sharp-tongued Muraleedharan said. The former Congress state chief was fielded from Thrissur in a last-minute reshuffle after Congress leadership analysed that it would be tough for T N Prathapan to retain the seat with the BJP’s star candidate Suresh Gopi making inroads into the electorate.

Muraleedharan’s candidature in Thrissur was also an attempt at Congress’ perception management in the wake of his sister Padmaja Venugopal, who was considered influential in Thrissur and joined the BJP ahead of the election. Muraleedharn came third in the election behind Suresh Gopi and CPI’s V S Sunilkumar.

“Our experts had no knowledge that the BJP had already added 56,000 votes in the constituency,” Muraleedharan said, without hiding the discontent still brewing within him. He also pointed fingers at Kozhikode District Congress chief K Praveenkumar, saying the latter was among those who pushed him to Thrissur.

Muraleedharan repeated his criticism that the Congress state unit lacked unity. He also expressed doubts over the crowd-pulling calibre of the state leaders. “The situation is such that national leaders like Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi have to be brought for election meetings to attract crowds,” he said.

He said despite their differences of opinions, during the time of leaders like K Karunakaran, A K Antony and Oommen Chandy, the party faced elections in unity. “We should introspect to ourselves if we are like that now,” he said. Muraleedharan said the absence of big leaders is evident in party meets.

He also urged the party machinery to work in advance to ensure that the Congress wins the local body elections and the state elections. “We cannot remain complacent believing that there is an anti-incumbency wave against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,” he warned party workers.

Responding to his criticism, Praveenkumar said it was not rational to think that a leader of Muraleedharan’s stature could be shifted to one constituency from another without his consent.

“Muraleedhran is a significant leader of the party. How can he be shifted from one constituency to another without his approval? It takes it only as a good joke from him,” Praveenkumar told a TV channel.

Responding to Muraleedharan’s crowd-puller remark, the DCC president said, “Crowds will gather if any leader of the Congress comes to a meeting, be it (KPCC president) K Sudhakaran, (Opposition leader) V D Satheesan or (AICC general secretary) K C Venugopal or even K Muraleedharan.”