After Padmaja and Padmini Thomas, another Congress leader joins BJP

Thiruvananthapuram: In a fresh embarrassment to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, another senior leader and a loyalist of former Chief Minister K Karunakaran quit the grand old party on Wednesday and joined the BJP.

Maheswaran Nair, who had served as the opposition leader in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation here, was welcomed to the saffron party by NDA candidate and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar by draping a shawl during a function here.

Senior BJP leader K Krishnadas and party district president V V Rajesh were also present while welcoming Nair, who had served as a member of the KPCC executive.

Talking to reporters later, the former Congress leader said the far-sighted vision of Chandrasekhar for the development of Thiruvananthapuram and Kerala had attracted him to the saffron party.

The city Corporation here had failed to implement even a masterplan for the development of the capital, he alleged.

"I met Chandrasekhar ji only some days ago. But within these limited days, I understood that he has a far-sighted vision for the development of not just Thiruvananthapuram but for the entire state," he said.

He also said he had held discussions with various social and religious leaders about this and they also opined that Chandrasekhar should be elected to the Lok Sabha this time for the comprehensive development of the constituency.

Nair joining the BJP came days after several people including Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal, former Indian athlete Padmini Thomas and ex-District Congress Committee general secretary Thampanoor Satheesh joined the party after quitting the Congress.

With his entry, the BJP has received a shot in the arm in Thiruvananthapuram, where the party is pitted against the Congress and the Left in the LS polls.

Sitting MP and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Pannian Raveendran of the CPI are Chandrasekhar's main rivals in the constituency.