K. Muraleedharan, the Congress candidate in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency for the upcoming elections, was accorded a warm reception here by the party activists on Saturday.
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Sitting MP T.N. Prathapan, District Congress Committee (DCC) president Jose Vallur and the United Democratic Front (UDF) district chairman M.P. Vincent received him at the Thrissur railway station.
Mr. Muraleedharan took out a roadshow from the Thrissur railway station to the DCC office. Party workers and a percussion ensemble followed him.
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Later, he reached K. Karunakaran’s house and paid floral tributes at his parents’ memorial.
Mr. Muraleedharan’s surprise entry in Thrissur has seemed to uplift the spirit of the Congress workers. The city sported hundreds of posters of Mr. Muraleedharan in a single day after his candidature from here was announced.
Addressing the media, Mr. Muraleedharan said he will not reply to the remarks made by Padmaja Venugopal, now a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, anymore.
“Thrissur is the bastion of Karunakaran. Here, there is no place for religious fundamentalism. Karunakaran’s children used to uphold his values. Now a change has occurred. I am not going to respond to any of her remarks,” he said.
Hinting at the role of Loknath Behra, former Director General of Police, behind Ms. Venugopal’s migration to the BJP, he said Mr. Behra’s job is to ‘build bridges’. “First, he built bridges between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Now he is building bridges for others to enter the BJP. But no bridge will last long,” he said.