On Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that E Sreedharan would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections.
According to the reports, BJP state president K Surendran, who is currently on a state-wide Vijay Yatra, announced the decision of BJP nominating the 88-year-old technocrat E Sreedharan as the party’s face in the upcoming Kerala assembly elections. The party will soon release a list of other candidates as well, he said.
'Metro Man' E Sreedharan (in file photo) will be BJP's Chief Minister candidate in the upcoming #KeralaAssemblyElections2021: State BJP chief K Surendran pic.twitter.com/EgQVQ5RSQi
— ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2021
E Sreedharan, one of India’s greatest engineers fondly known as ‘Metro man’, had last week announced the decision to join the BJP ahead of the state assembly elections. E Sreedharan, who is instrumental in envisioning and designing the country’s modern railway infrastructure, is expected to contest the upcoming Kerala assembly elections.
After joining BJP, Dr Sreedharan had also expressed his willingness to contest the elections. However, he had not decided on a constituency. “I am ready to contest in any seat, and victory is sure for me. I strongly believe that BJP will come to power. However, I want to contest from a constituency which is not far away from Ponnani in Malappuram, where I am residing now,” he had said.
Sreedharan, who is also the advisor to the Kochi Metro project, said he would not do a conventional door-to-door campaign. “I will not visit houses and shops soliciting votes. But, my message would reach the voters,” he said in Kochi.
Earlier, Sreedharan had said that Thursday will be his last day in DMRC uniform. The technocrat had said that he will be filing his nomination for the elections only after resigning from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
E Sreedharan – RSS roots and a vehement critic of ‘Love Jihad’
Nearly a week after expressing his wish to join the BJP, Dr Sreedharan had revealed interesting details about his past association with the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his yesteryears. Disclosing his decades-old association with RSS, Dr Sreedharan said that he is a Swayamsevak from his school days, and Sangh had laid all the foundational values in this life.
Speaking to NDTV, technocrat E Sreedharan said that he has lost faith in all other political parties and decided to join BJP due to its progressive outlook. The Padma Vibhushan awardee engineer also heaped praises on PM Modi and former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.
Dr Sreedharan had also commented on the issues of “Love jihad”. “Love Jihad, yes, I see what is happened in Kerala. How Hindus are being tricked in a marriage and how they suffer… not only Hindus, Muslim, the Christian girls are being tricked in a marriage. Now that sort of a thing I certainly will oppose,” Sreedharan had said in an interview.
The 88-year-old technocrat said that his aim was to bring the party into power in Kerala and added that he was open to the chief minister’s post. He also said the focus would be on developing infrastructure if the BJP emerges victorious in the assembly polls, likely to be held in April-May this year.
