With Padmaja Venugopal's inclusion, BJP gets a shot in the arm in Kerala

Padmaja, an active party leader, was also the General Secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

Two high-profile desertions have dealt a major setback to the Congress party ahead of the parliamentary elections in Kerala. First, in April 2023, Anil Antony, son of veteran leader AK Antony and now Padmaja Venugopal, the daughter of former Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on March 7 citing dissatisfaction with the Congress state unit.

Padmaja, an active party leader, was also the General Secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

The big shakeup for the Congress comes hours before the central election committee of the Congress, reportedly cleared Rahul Gandhi's name as the Congress candidate from Wayanad constituency.

However,  there was no confirmation whether Rahul Gandhi will also contest from Amethi, the seat he lost to BJP's Smriti Irani as Uttar Pradesh was not discussed during Thursday's meeting. Shashi Tharoor is expected to contest from his Thiruvananthapuram seat that he made a Congress turf since 2009.

While Anil Antony has been announced as the BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta, there is some speculation that Padmaja  contest from Chalakudy.

Why Padmaja joined BJP?

Padmaja, who contested from the Thrissur assembly constituency in 2016 and 2021 and lost both times, had alleged that people within the Congress party had defeated her. Padmaja was upset at the party for not taking action against these people and instead accommodating them in the party. Asianet News reported that she was leaving the Congress heartbroken and the option in front of her was to leave politics completely as staying back in the Congress had become untenable. She chose the second option of staying back in politics and joining the BJP.

How inclusion in BJP benefits the party?

Padmaja’s eventual inclusion in the BJP, as media reports say that she was in touch with the saffron party for quite some time, has enthused party cadres in Kerala. Padmaja’s move will not only have some electoral impact for the BJP, but the image the late Congress stalwart K Karunakaran’s daughter embracing their party’s “nationalistic values” could provide them with further momentum in the state that is crucial as BJP moves towards its 370+seats calculus.

BJP state president K Surendran said that many people who said that Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of former Chief Minister K Karunakaran, is joining the BJP out of fear of the ED, had previously discussed joining the BJP.

Also Read: Interview: BJP prospects strong in Kerala; confident of Lok Sabha debut, says Cong turncoat Anil Antony

Left's 'Soft Hindutva' jibe at the Congress

The CPI(M) has repeatedly portrayed the Congress as “soft Hindutva” to electorally dent the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a critical United Democratic Front (UDF) ally, and undermine the Opposition’s traditional standing among minorities, particularly Muslims.

The left had publicly attacked Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, for allegedly making an anti-Palestine remark at an IUML rally in pursuance of the LDF’s pro-minority pivot.

The CPI(M) was quick to point out Congress’s alleged “ambivalence” about attending the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to score brownie points with minority community voters.

Why Thrissur will be BJP's primary focus

With her inclusion, the primary focus for the saffron party will be to leverage the votes she could potentially influence in Thrissur. In the 2021 assembly elections, Padmaja and Suresh Gopi had contested in the Thrissur segment, but both lost the election as CPI's P Balachandran clinched victory by a slim margin of less than 1,000 votes leaving Gopi at the third spot.

Electoral impact of Padmaja's exit for Congress

The BJP feels that Venugopal’s political timely exit from the Congress would advantage the party in the high-stakes Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency where its high-profile candidate, Suresh Gopi, is standing again for the seat.

For decades,  Padmaja Venugopal has focussed her politics on her father’s home turf in Thrissur district. She could confidently count scores of Congress workers in the locality as her loyalists.

Her defection came at a politically inopportune moment for the state  leadership. The Congress has had a challenging week.

Its allies, including the IUML, have criticised the party’s leadership for “allowing” the CPI(M) and the BJP to seize the initiative on the campaign trail by delaying the formal announcement of Congress’s Lok Sabha candidates. Congress also has to restrict the CPI(M) and the LDF from taking advantage of the situation.