Confusion over 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan's CM candidature in Kerala

In a dramatic development, state BJP president on Thursday projected technocrat-turned-politician E Sreedharan, popularly known as 'Metro Man', as NDA’s chief ministerial candidate in Kerala, but later withdrew it.

Making the announcement at a public function, BJP state president K Surendran even said that Kerala will witness rapid development activities once an NDA government led by Sreedharan as the chief minister comes to power.

But Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who is a BJP leader from Kerala, later reacted that no such announcements were made.

He said that he cross-checked with Surendran and the latter said that he had not made any such announcement but only mentioned that people would like to see a person like Sreedharan as the chief minister.

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Surendran's announcement projecting E Sreedharan as the CM candidate was widely reported by the media.

While BJP sources maintained that it was premature to make any announcements on the CM candidate as it was for the parliamentary party to elect the chief minister, difference within the BJP as well as other NDA partners is also learnt to be a reason for swiftly withdrawing the statement.

The BJP is making an all-out effort to improve its presence in Kerala, which is now limited to only one seat.

The party identified 35 to 40 seats as prospective ones for the party and Surendran even announced that the NDA could form government in Kerala if it wins in around 35 to 40 seats. The saffron party is also making a bid to make inroads into the state's Christian vote banks.

While the NDA indicated that Sreedharan would be the CM candidate, the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front will probably not project anyone as chief ministerial candidate ahead of the polls.

Incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan could be the undisputed candidate of the LDF even as such formal announcements are unlikely to be made from the party.

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The UDF might not be able to make such a projection as former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was recently brought back to the forefront to lead them during the elections. This is casting a shadow over the post-poll prospects of Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

Sreedharan, who is now 88, himself had expressed his wish to be the chief minister as soon as he had announced the decision to join BJP. Though he has already said that he will be contesting in the April 6 polls, the party is yet to decide the candidates and constituencies.

While projecting him as the CM candidate, Surendran had highlighted the reconstruction of the Palarivattom flyover in Kochi within five months by a team led by Sreedharan against the estimated completion time of 18 months.

Sreedharan stepped down from the DMRC principal advisor post on Thursday after having a final review of the reconstructed flyover, which is likely to be reopened for traffic shortly.

Meanwhile, Sreedharan's statement praising Uralungal Labour Contactors Cooperative Society (ULCCS) that carried out the work of the flyover reconstruction under his guidance had not gone down well with the BJP state leadership as ULCCS's various deals with the Left-Front government had faced corruption allegations.

Surendran said that Sreedharan might be unaware of the corruption of ULCCS.