After declaring 'Metro Man' Sreedharan as BJP’s Kerala CM pick; MoS Muraleedharan retracts
Thiruvalla/Kochi, Mar 4: After tweeting 'Metroman' E Sreedharan, who recently joined the BJP, will be its chief ministerial candidate for the Kerala assembly elections on April 6, Union Minister V Muraleedharan clarified on Thursday that the party has not made any such announcement.
Muraleedharan, who tweeted in this regard earlier, clarified, saying he wanted to inform that through media reports he learnt that the party has announced Sreedharan as the chief ministerial candidate.
But when he cross-checked with Kerala party president K Surendran, he said he has not made any such announcements, Muraleedharan, who is also a former BJP state president, said.
In his tweet, Muraleedharan had said.."BJP4Keralam will fight Keralapolls with E Sreedharan Ji as its Chief Ministerial Candidate.We will defeat both CPIMKerala & INCKerala to provide a corruption-free, development-oriented Governance for the people of Kerala."
His social media post on Sreedharan's leadership in the Assembly polls came hours after Surendran said he has requested the party's national leadership to announce 'Metroman' as the NDA's chief ministerial candidate.
Referring to Muraleedharan's clarification tweets, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor took a dig at the BJP, saying the saffron party was "confused".
"Hilarious! BJP4Keralam manages to be confused about who will occupy the top floor of a building that will never be built.There will be no BJP CM in Kerala," Tharoor tweeted.
The development comes on a day the 88-year-old technocrat announced his decision to end his 24-year long career with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to enter electoral politics.
Earlier, Surendran, who is leading the party's Vijay Yatra said, if the NDA "under the leadership of 'Metroman', gets an opportunity to rule the state, "we are confident we will be able to implement development works under Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a ten-fold force in Kerala."
Addressing a party meeting in Thiruvalla, Surendran highlighted the achievements of Sreedharan, including the completion of the reconstruction of Palarivattom flyover here in five months, much ahead of the stipulated time.
"He completed the project in five months without any corruption.That is why we requested Sreedharan and our party leadership that he should be projected as the (NDA's) Chief Minister candidate," he said at the meeting organised as part of the "Vijay Yatra" led by him.
This was the first time the party indicated that Sreedhran will be the NDA's chief ministerial candidate.
The party sought to project Sreedharan's leadership in the polls amid the process of determining the candidates for the assembly election.
Sreedharan has said his main aim was to help the party come to power in Kerala and that he will be open to chief ministership.
He has also said the focus will be on developing infrastructure in a big way and bring the state out of the debt trap if the BJP wins the assembly polls.
Meanwhile, curtain came down on his 24-year long career with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation as he wore the DMRC's outdoor uniform one last time on Thursday ahead of his political journey with BJP.
"This will be the last day I will be wearing this uniform," Sreedharan, acclaimed for his efficiency in completing big infrastructure projects, said announcing the completion of re-construction of Palarivattom flyover here under his supervision much ahead of the stipulated time.
Clad in the DMRC outdoor uniform, the technocrat visited the flyover in the morning for an inspection before handing it over to the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation (RBDC) of the Kerala government for inauguration.
He said the flyover, whose reconstruction was taken up in September last year, was ready and the state government can decide the date of its inauguration.
"I wore the DMRC's typical outdoor uniform for the first time in November 1997 in Delhi.Same practice I continued for the last 24 years," Sreedharan said.
The 'Metroman', who is all set to contest the assembly polls on the BJP ticket, said he will file the nomination papers after resigning from the post of DMRC's Principal Adviser.
Sreedharan, now a member of the BJP state Election Committee, said he has requested the party leadership to field him from a constituency not far from his residence in Ponnani in Malappuram district.
Predicting a big victory for the BJP in the polls, the technocrat said his poll campaign style will be different from that of a normal politician.
"This is a digital age.So I will not be going from house to house or shop to shop (seeking votes).But I will reach every home, every person in the constituency with a message--what I am doing for the state," he said.
Sreedharan said he will showcase his professional competency and integrity among the voters for winning their support.
He said his age has not affected his health.
"Mentally I am very strong. I will not be working like a normal politician. I will still be working like a technocrat," Sreedharan said in response to a query on his age.
Sreedharan expressed confidence BJP will form the government in the state after the polls.
"People know very well what is good for them and what is good for the state.I am very confident that they will elect the BJP to power," he added.
Hilarious! @BJP4Keralam manages to be confused about who will occupy the top floor of a building that will never be built. There will be no BJP CM in Kerala. https://t.co/mlezWttift
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 4, 2021
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Uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed votes for NDA: Himanta
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asserted that his government's "uncompromising stand" in taking steps against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed people in favour of the BJP-led NDA in this year's assembly elections, resulting in the alliance securing a two-thirds majority.
He maintained that the NDA's win was a victory for the Assamese indigenous people and affirmed continuing developmental work in the state.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma said, "The double-engine government and unprecedented development the state witnessed in the last five years are among the main reasons for our victory."
"We had assured of securing the Assamese 'jati' (community) and took steps to deliver it. Assam progressed in the cultural and economic sectors. Our uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims also had an impact," he said.
The NDA swept to a third successive term in the state by securing 102 seats in the 126-member state assembly. The BJP won 82 seats, while its allies AGP and Bodoland People's Front bagged 10 each.
On Sarma predicting nearly exact numbers for the alliance before the results, he said the assessment was based on his connect with the people.
"I visited every assembly segment thrice before elections. I have a good mass connect system, which helped in my assessment," he said.
Sarma claimed that recommendations of the Justice (retd) Biplab Sharma committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which deals with constitutional safeguards for the indigenous Assamese population, were implemented by his government.
"It was because of it that the Assamese people won yesterday. It was not just a BJP victory," he asserted.
The CM claimed the NDA secured the support of all sections of people, including Gen Z, which was evident in the young faces fielded by the BJP emerging victorious.
He dismissed the charge that the BJP has an "outsider" among its MLAs, referring to Guwahati Central legislator-elect Vijay Gupta.
"Vijay Gupta is an Assamese. If he is a Bihari, we (ancestors) also came from Kannauj. We all have come from different parts. Mongoloids came from outside, Aryans came from outside. This outsider narrative has been created by you all (media)," Sarma said.
On the Congress' poor poll performance, he maintained that there were very few people in the opposition party who understood the sentiments of the Assamese people.
Otherwise, the Congress would not have brought singer Zubeen Garg's name in its manifesto or levied allegations against an Assamese woman, Sarma added, referring to the opposition party's charges of multiple passports and undisclosed foreign investments of his wife.
The CM also maintained that Raijor Dal could have won four-five seats had it not joined hands with the Congress.
The Congress and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal were part of a six-party opposition alliance that fought the elections together. Congress won 19 seats and Raijor Dal two, with the other allies drawing a blank.
"If Akhil Gogoi had not made the mistake, Sherman Ali Ahmed would have been his MLA today," Sarma said, referring to the expelled Congress leader who won as a TMC candidate after Raijor Dal refused him a ticket owing to the alliance.
On Gogoi being the only opposition MLA to win from a Hindu-majority seat, Sarma said, "It is the people of Sibsagar who decided who will represent them. On my part, it was the only Hindu majority seat where I didn't go to campaign."
"Akhil Gogoi should be kept in the assembly, else he will create chaos on the streets with his protests," Sarma said.
He also claimed that Gogoi had failed to make a single serious speech in the assembly during his first tenure as MLA and dubbed the Raijor Dal president a "comic relief" when the proceedings get dull.
