- Padmaja Venugopal contests Thrissur Assembly seat for BJP in Kerala elections
- She is a Kerala University arts graduate from a prominent political family
- Padmaja's father was four-time Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, Congress leader
BJP has fielded Padmaja Venugopal from the Thrissur Assembly constituency in Kerala. She will face Rajan Pallan, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate, and Left Democratic Front (LDF) nominee Alancode Leelakrishnan.
Education
Padmaja is a graduate in arts from Kerala University. She belongs to one of Kerala's most prominent political families. Her father, late K Karunakaran, was a Congress stalwart and four-time Chief Minister of Kerala. Karunakaran was a key architect of the UDF and played a defining role in shaping coalition politics in the state, with his influence still visible in Thrissur.
Padmaja's brother K Muraleedharan, is a senior Congress leader. He is actively campaigning as a UDF candidate from the Vattiyoorkkavu constituency in the Kerala Assembly elections. The 68-year-old leader, a seasoned politician who has served as a four-time MP and two-time MLA, is set for a three-cornered contest against incumbent CPM candidate VK Prasanth and BJP nominee R Sreelekha.
Political career
Padmaja began her political journey with Congress and made her debut in electoral politics in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Mukundapuram, where she lost to CPM's Lonappan Nambadan. She contested the Thrissur Assembly seat in 2016 and again in 2021. While both attempts ended in defeat, the 2021 election was particularly notable as she lost to CPI candidate P Balachandran by a narrow margin of just 946 votes.
She joined the BJP in 2024. Her exit from Congress was linked to internal differences, including issues involving senior leader KC Venugopal.
Her narrow defeat in the 2021 election is now being seen as a key factor behind the BJP's decision to field her again from Thrissur.
Thrissur has traditionally remained a stronghold of the Left and an important centre of Kerala's political movements, but recent elections have shown changing dynamics. BJP gained a major breakthrough in the region during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi secured a historic win from Thrissur. This marked the party's first-ever parliamentary seat from Kerala.
It remains to be seen whether Padmaja can finally turn her past close defeats into a win this time.
