Thiruvananthapuram, March 14 -- Former Indian athlete Padmini Thomas and ex-District Congress Committee general secretary Thampanoor Satheesh on Thursday left the Congress and joined the BJP.
The move comes a day after the BJP's state chief, K Surendran, announced that more Congress members would be joining the saffron party.
The development also comes a week after Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of former Chief Minister and Congress leader Karunakaran, had joined the BJP.
Thomas, who won a silver and a bronze medal in the 1982 Asian Games, said that she decided to leave the grand old party as she was fed up with it.
She alleged that she suffered a lot emotionally and mentally which triggered her decision to join the BJP.
"I have not joined the BJP for any positions. I was happy and impressed with the Modi government as it gave priority and reservation to women," Thomas, an Arjuna Awardee, told reporters here after joining the saffron party.
Satheesh alleged that the downfall of the Congress in Kerala began after the death of party stalwart K Karunakaran.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.