Konni/Kochi: A day after projecting technocrat E Sreedharan as its chief ministerial candidate ahead of next month's Kerala assembly elections, BJP's Kerala chief K Surendran clarified on Friday that the party has not made any decision on the choice for the CM post in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Surendran said the state leadership will announce its decision only after discussing it with the central leadership. He also blamed media for "creating a controversy" over the issue.
Sreedharan, famed as the 'Metroman', had recently joined the BJP which is hoping to improve its electoral performance in the state significantly.
On Thursday, Surendran had said if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), "under the leadership of 'Metroman', gets an opportunity to rule the state", the party will "implement the development works being carried out under Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a ten-fold force in Kerala".
Addressing a party meeting organised as part of the "Vijay Yatra" being led by him, he had highlighted the achievements of Sreedharan, including the completion of the reconstruction of Palarivattom flyover in Kochi 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 had said at the meeting.
This was for the first time, the party indicated that Sreedharan will be the NDA's chief ministerial candidate.
Earlier, Sreedharan had said his main aim was to help the party come to power in Kerala and that he will be open to chief ministership.
The 88-year old technocrat had 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 to be held on April 6.
Muraleedharan retracts his statement
Meanwhile, after tweeting Sreedharan will be its chief ministerial candidate for the Kerala assembly elections on April 6, Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Thursday said that the party has not made any such announcement.
Muraleedharan, clarified, saying he wanted to inform that through media reports he learnt that the party has announced Sreedharan as the chief ministerial candidate.
After cross-checking with Surendran, the former BJP state president however said he has not made any such announcements.
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." (sic.)
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.
The development comes on a day the renowned engineer announced his decision to end his 24-year career with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) so as to commence a career in electoral politics.
He wore its 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 the Palarivattom flyover under his supervision much ahead of the stipulated time.
