Muraleedharan wishes to see rout of Rahul, says Padmaja

Former Congress leader K. Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja Venugopal, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a few months ago, said here on Monday that her brother, K. Muraleedharan, would never wish to see the victory of United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Rahul Mamkootathil in the Palakkad Assembly byelection.

Addressing the press, Ms. Venugopal said that Mr. Mamkootathil had spoken disparagingly about their mother, Kalyanikutty Amma, when she quit the Congress and joined the BJP, and that her brother would never forgive him for that.

“He [Mr. Mamkootathil] should not win, because he had denigrated my mother,” she said, expressing sentiments about her father, mother and brother. She said her brother (Mr. Muraleedharan) would do what the party tells him to, be he would never voluntarily work for Mr. Mamkootathil or wish to seem him win in Palakkad.

Referring to the controversy over Mr. Mamkootathil and Shafi Parambil, MP, refusing to shake hands with Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate and their former colleague P. Sarin during a wedding reception here, Ms. Venugopal said that it showed the decadence of the Congress.

“The Congress has degenerated. There are power centres in the party. None knows who stands with whom. Even Oommen Chandy in his last days had experienced the trauma of seeing his trusted lieutenants going with his rivals,” she said.

Published - November 04, 2024 07:36 pm IST