Padmaja Venugopal slams Congress, claims brother shifted to Thrissur to thwart win

Thrissur: Padmaja Venugopal, who recently joined the BJP, claimed on Monday that her brother and Lok Sabha MP K Muraleedharan was deliberately shifted from the Vatakara seat to Thrissur by the Congress to thwart his chances of winning.

Padmaja, daughter of the late Congress stalwart and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, also said that the saffron party's candidate, Suresh Gopi, will win from the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency.

"Some of the leaders in Thrissur don't like Karunakaran's children. I think my brother would have easily won the upcoming election from the Vatakara seat (which he currently represents). I wonder why the party fielded him from Thrissur," Venugopal said.

Addressing mediapersons here, she said that the same leaders who allegedly orchestrated her defeat when she contested as a Congress candidate in Thrissur in the previous polls were seen standing beside her brother Muraleedharan when he landed in the central Kerala constituency to launch his election campaign.

Venugopal also hit out at a section of Congress leaders in Thrissur alleging that some of them had taken money from her to allow her to stand next to Priyanka Gandhi during an election campaign.

"However, they did not allow me to travel with her (Priyanka Gandhi). I came to know that KPCC had granted funds for the programme. I had lodged a complaint with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in this regard but nothing happened," she claimed.

The Congress has not reacted to Venugopal's allegations.

She also attacked the Youth Congress leaders who allegedly made distasteful comments against her after she joined the BJP, stating, "they all became leaders through TV debates."

Venugopal said she will seek votes for Suresh Gopi if the party asks her to do so. "He will win the polls."

While the Congress has fielded Muraleedharan, the CPI has fielded senior leader V S Sunil Kumar from Thrissur.