New Delhi: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's office in South Block here on Tuesday.

Kerala's COVID-19 preparedness, steps to be taken for the timely completion of the state's development projects, and the strengthening of Centre-state relations were some of the topics discussed. The CM's chief secretary V P Joy also attended the meeting.

The state government said, in a release, that the looming threat of another wave of COVID-19 and Kerala's preparedness to deal with it were touched upon in the meeting.

Besides that, Pinarayi and Modi talked about strengthening Centre-state relations and steps to be taken for speedy completion of projects, like National Highways development, involving both governments, the release said.

Both of them also greeted each other ahead of New Year and Vijayan gifted a Kathakali sculpture to Modi.

Initially, the state government's Information and Public Relations Department said the meeting was held at Modi's official residence, but it later issued a correction saying the two leaders met at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in South Block, New Delhi.

No mention of SilverLine in govt release

A state government source had earlier said that issues related to the buffer zone, the SilverLine project and the financial crisis being faced by Kerala since the pandemic were also likely to be discussed in the meeting.

However, there was no mention in the government release of these issues being discussed in the meeting.

The state government has blamed the occurrences of natural disasters and pandemic, distorted policies of the Centre, the implementation of the GST without much contemplation, delayed distribution of GST compensation and imposition of cuts in the borrowing limit of the state by the Union government for the economic crisis.

(With PTI inputs)