PADMAJA Venugopal, who joined the BJP a day ago, said on Friday that the Congress lacks a strong leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Padmaja, who was accorded a grand welcome at the airport here by BJP leaders, including its State President K Surendran, and party workers, later said at a press conference that it pained her to leave the Congress, but she was not ready to put up any longer with the “insults” she has been suffering. She said that someone asked her why she joined the BJP as she has stood strong with the Congress even when facing problems from within the party.

 

“After seeing Prime Minister Modi’s style of functioning for some time, I realised that every party needs a strong leader. The Congress does not have any such strong leaders,” she said. Padmaja, the daughter of former Kerala CM K Karunakaran, alleged that the leaders in the party do not even have time to meet its functionaries. She said that when she recently went to the Congress’s headquarters in Delhi, she found that Sonia Gandhi does not meet anyone, “Rahul Gandhi has no time and most of the senior leaders have left (the party)”.