Metroman E Sreedharan, who was the BJP's MLA candidate from Palakkad during the Kerala Assembly Elections earlier this year, said on Thursday that he won't be involved in active politics hereafter.
"I didn't enter politics as a politician, but as a bureaucrat. I am able to serve the society without being an active politician," Sreedharan told media persons here on Thursday.
He said that he is no longer disappointed with the outcome of the elections, and had learned many things.
The 89-year-old engineer, renowned for his role in the development of the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro, had lost his maiden election in April.
Sreedharan had finished second to Congress' Shafi Parambil, losing by 3,859 votes in the Palakkad constituency.
According to Manorama News, he said that several revisions were necessary for the functioning of BJP in Kerala. He has claimed that the BJP could come to power in Kerala with a change in approach.
However, BJP state chief K Surendran told the media in Ernakulam that Sreedharan was never an active politician but the party will continue to seek his advice on many matters.
"Even though he (Sreedharan) had lost in the elections, the party needs his service and that's why he is in the national executive of the BJP. Whatever be the reports about his quitting, the party will seek his advice," Surendran said in response to a query.
SilverLine badly executed
Sreedharan also launched a scathing attack on the conceptualisation of the proposed K-Rail project, connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod, saying it was 'ill-conceived,' lacked technical perfection and is being 'badly executed.'
Speaking at a private function in nearby Ponnani, the Metroman said the ruling CPI(M)'s ambitious project was defectively planned and technically handicapped as to offer any economic or social good for the state.
"I am not against the proposal of a high speed rail, per se, but the present one needs lots of corrections including its basic track width. It should be a broad gauge instead of the proposed standard gauge," he said.
Sreedharan said more than 300 kms of tracks are proposed through land including agriculture fields, which is unscientific and causes heavy damage, including to drainage, people's passage and unprecedented environmental impacts.
"The project cannot be completed in five years as claimed. The cost estimated is much less than actual. Moreover, the cost of a project should be estimated based upon its completion date. Even if we take 75,000-80,000 crores as an estimate, it would cross a lakh crores at the time of completion in about 10 years," Sreedharan noted.
(With PTI inputs.)