Surprise never ends in Thrissur and this time, it was sprung by the late Congress veteran K. Karunakaran’s children. If his daughter Padmaja Venugopal made an unexpected move by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, the voters are more jolted by the entry of his son K. Muraleedharan as the Congress candidate in Thrissur on Friday.
The fielding of Mr. Muraleedharan in Thrissur, replacing T.N. Prathapan, the sitting MP, was a surprise move by the Congress in the wake of Mr. Muraleedharan’s sister’s shift to the BJP camp. The change was brought forth at a time when Mr. Prathapan had completed one round of his ‘Journey of love against hatred’ in the entire constituency. Thousands of posters had been printed and party activists had begun wall writings for him across the constituency. Mr. Prathapan had even launched his campaign on Thursday after paying floral tributes at the K. Karunakaran Smrithi Mandapam.
