’Not a sudden decision’: Metro man E Sreedharan to join BJP during party’s Vijaya Yathra in Kerala

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Kerala, Feb 18, 2021:     Ahead of Kerala elections due this year, ’Metro Man’ E Sreedharan is set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, announced Kerala BJP president K Surendran on Thursday. Sreedharan will be formally inducted into the party during the BJP’s ’Vijaya Yathra’ being organised from February 21.

 

"It is not a sudden decision. I have been in Kerala for the past decade and wanted to do something for the state. I alone cannot do things. BJP is different and that’s why I joined the party,” Sreedharan told the Malayalam newspaper, Manorama.

Sreedharan, who advised the Kerala government on Metro projects in the state, said he will now end the practice. "I will focus on BJP centric activities," he told the newspaper.

Back in 2017, there was a minor controvery during the Lucknow Metro inauguration after top BJP leaders forgot to accommodate the ‘Metro Man’ in the frame. Sreedharan was sidelined at the event, a photo of which has gone viral.

A picture of the same went viral – showing E Sreedharan standing at the one end of the stage while ministers were seen rushing to share the dais with CM Yogi Adityanath and Union Ministers at the inaugural ceremony. The ministers that rushed to push the start button included Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, Law Minister Brijesh Pathak, Tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Technical & Medical Education minister Ashutosh Tandon.

The Lucknow Metro project was completed in record time with the help and guidance of E Sreedharan. The civil engineer is credited for changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. Sreedharan was even appointed as Principal Advisor of the Kochi Metro Rail Project, which after many controversies finally saw light of the day after Sreedharan’s appointment.