Padmaja Venugopal, a prominent Kerala politician, has switched from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Born on October 27, 1960, in Thrissur, she is the daughter of former Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran.
Padmaja Venugopal joined the Indian National Congress in 1996 and became active in politics in 2001. She served as Chairperson of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation and contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the Mukundapuram constituency.
She later contested the Thrissur Assembly constituency in both 2016 and 2021 as a Congress candidate, losing by a narrow margin in 2021. Following differences with the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and the Thrissur District Congress Committee (DCC), she left the Congress party in March 2024 and joined the BJP.
Padmaja Venugopal was elected as a member of the BJP National Council in March 2025 and is now contesting the 2026 Assembly elections from the Thrissur constituency as a BJP candidate.
