Tiruvanathapuram: As expected Metro Man E. Sreedharan is being projected as the BJP chief ministerial candidate in Kerala. He joined the saffron party last week. Kerala BJP chief K. Surendran said on Thursday that his unit would request the party’s high command to announce Sreedharan as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the assembly elections polling for which will be held on April 6.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan tweeted on Thursday evening that Sreedharan is indeed the chief ministerial candidate. “Kerala BJP will fight polls with E. Sreedharan ji as its chief ministerial candidate. We will defeat both CPM and Congress to provide a corruption-free, development-oriented governance for the people of Kerala,” he said. “BJP, under the able leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi ji will strive to take care of the needs of the people of Kerala. The new Kerala under E. Sreedharan ji will pave the way for an efficient & effective Govt. in the State,” Muraleedharan added.
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Sreedharan said he would be working like a technocrat and not like a politician. It is an experiment undertaken by the BJP which had waived the age bar to accommodate the metro man notwithstanding his 88 years of age. The unofficial rule was that anyone who crossed 75 years of age should not aspire to an electoral position. This rule was implemented in case of Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and other BJP veterans but violated when the party had to make Yediyurappa the Karnataka chief minister. He was 76 when he took oath as CM in 2019.
Surendran said, hours before Muraleedharan, in a tweet, “Metro Man E Sreedharan built bridge in five months without corruption. Not like the flyover which had to be brought down and was reflective of the CPM led Left Democratic Front or the Congress led United Democratic Front. We have requested the party to make E. Sreedharan the chief ministerial candidate.” BJP at present has one MLA in 140-member Kerala Assembly.
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Sreedharan wore Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) uniform for the last time on Thursday. He started wearing the uniform in 1997, 24 years ago. Earlier he said he cannot do miracles without being a chief minister. He said he is expecting a respectable number of seats enabling his party to form a government comfortably. He said the BJP government would concentrate on creating infrastructural facilities and installing industries.
