Thiruvananthapuram: Rajeev Chandrashekhar, the NDA candidate from the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency and rival of high-profile sitting MP Shashi Tharoor, received a shot in the arm on Thursday with three key functionaries of the Congress in the Capital city joining the BJP.
Former District Congress Committee (DCC) general secretaries Thampanoor Satheesh and C N Udhayakumar who have been instrumental in the victory of the party candidates in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, crossed over to the BJP. Another prize catch for the BJP was a former president of Kerala Sports Council and prominent Congress leader Padmini Thomas who also took the party membership along with the former DCC general secretaries at the party NDA’s election committee office.
BJP state president K Surendran along with Rajeev Chandrashekhar welcomed the three former Congress leaders into the party fold. “The Congress leaders are not joining us because they want any positions. They are feeling suffocated in the Congress,” he said and added that more Congressmen would cross over in the coming days.
Rajeev Chandrashekhar thanked those who came to the party fold. “The forthcoming elections will be an occasion to compare and discuss the development activities of the NDA government and the UPA government in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency,” said the BJP candidate who is locked in a triangular contest with Shashi Tharoor and CPI’s Pannyan Raveendran.
Tharoor who has won three elections in a row since 2009 is confident of securing people's mandate for a fourth term. The CPI candidate Pannyan Raveendran who is also a former MP from Thiruvananthapuram constituency, is banking on the LDF’s traditional vote base and strong organisational network.
Padmini Thomas, a former athlete who won a bronze medal in the 400 and 4x400 meters relay in the 1982 Asian Games, said there is no recognition for women workers in Congress. She cited the example of Lathika Subhas who had to tonsure her head in protest after being denied a ticket in the 2021 assembly elections.
Thampanoor Satheesh said the Congress in the district was being run by a coterie and his decision to join BJP was in protest against the wrong tendencies in the party. “More Congressmen who love the late K Karunakaran will join the BJP soon,” he said.
