Karunakaran Family Drama: Padmaja hits back at Muraleedharan; says brother's anguish on joining BJP laughable
Former Congress leader and daughter of former CM of Kerala K Karunakaran, Padmaja Venugopal will join the BJP on Thursday. She has hit back at her brother and Congress MP K Muraleedharan for his remarks against her joining the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
FollowThiruvananthapuram: The war of words continues over the entry of Congress leader Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of late senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister K Karunakaran, into the Bharatiya Janata Party. Padmaja Venugopal on Thursday (Mar 07) hit back at her brother and Congress MP K Muraleedharan who said that Padmaja's decision is deceitful and cannot be accepted. She will officially join the BJP today at the party's headquarters in New Delhi at 5 pm.
Responding to Muraleedharan, she said, "I feel like laughing when I hear my brother (Muraleedharan). How much pain he caused to our father. I never caused any pain to my father until his death. I can understand what others say about my father, but when I hear my brother mentioning 'father's soul' and such, it makes me laugh."
"He is someone who showed no interest in his father when he was alive. Everyone knows that. If K Muraleedharan claims he cannot see me as a sister after I left Congress, but even when he went to DIC, I still considered him as my brother. I have nothing to comment on it because a time will come when he will correct all this. If he is going to cut all ties with me, then go ahead," she added.
Padmaja Venugopal faced successive electoral defeats in the Thrissur constituency in the last two assembly elections and the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Mukundapuram, prompting her to consider other options. Additionally, the delay in constructing K. Karunakaran's memorial by the Congress leadership reportedly contributed to Padmaja's decision to shift allegiance to the BJP.
Padmaja Venugopal is the daughter of K. Karunakaran, adding to the surprise among Congress ranks following Anil Antony, son of AK Antony, also joining the BJP camp.
