Former Kerala CM Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal joins BJP ahead of Lok Sabha Elections

Padmaja Venugopal, the daughter of late Congress veteran and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi on Thursday. The former Congress leader's decision to join the BJP came ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

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Kerala BJP chief K Surendran on X: "Today, Kerala's most respected Congress' Kerala leader and former Chief Minister, Shri K. Karunakaran's daughter, and 's sister, Congress leader Smt. Padmaja Venugopal, joined Kerala BJP at an event organized at the BJP Headquarters in New Delhi in the presence of BJP Kerala prabhari Shri Prakash Javdekar ji. Warm welcome Smt. Padmaja to the world's largest political party".

Earlier in the day, Venugopal's brother and Congress MP K Muraleedharan said that her decision was a betrayal and. He said that Karunakaran had never compromised with communalism and for a member of his family to join the BJP was a sad outcome as far as people with a secular mindset were concerned.

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"It is an unfortunate decision. Padmaja has taken this decision at a time when the Congress in Kerala is making all efforts to win all 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Congress party has always given her high importance. The BJP will gain no advantage by taking Padmaja into the party," Muraleedharan was quoted by ANI as .

Muraleedharan further said that Padmaja was thrice given the party ticket to contest polls in Kerala and each time she had lost. "So, the claims that others in the party were behind her defeat were not acceptable as there are many who have tried to do that to me. I have not complained about it because it is the people who decide who should win or not," he was quoted by PTI as saying.

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