Hours after tweeting that ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan will be the Chief Minister candidate for Kerala Assembly elections, Union Minister V Muraleedharan clarified that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not taken any such announcement.

“What I wanted to tell was that through media reports I learnt that the party has made this announcement. Later, I cross-checked with the party chief who said that he has not made any such announcement,” he told news agency ANI.

Earlier in the day, Muraleedharan said, "Our party has announced that E Sreedharan will be the chief minister candidate for Kerala Assembly elections."

What I wanted to tell was that through media reports I learnt that the party has made this announcement. Later, I cross-checked with the party chief who said that he has not made any such announcement: V Muraleedharan on his statement on E Sreedharan pic.twitter.com/anMBbkiPlw

— ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2021

Meanwhile, the Kerala BJP on Wednesday constituted a 16 member state election committee for the April 6 Assembly polls

Besides Surendran and Sreedharan, union minister V Muraleedharan, BJP national vice president A P Abdullakutty, former state presidents Kummanam Rajasekharan, O Rajagopal MLA, C K Padmanabhan and P K Krishnadas are the prominent members of the committee.

Sreedharan joined the BJP in February. "I am entering the political fray with an aim to bring BJP to power in Kerala and work for the state's benefit. If BJP wins Kerala assembly polls, the focus will be to bring the state out of debt trap, develop infrastructure," he said.

The 88-year old Sreedharan played a major role in executing Kerala's ambitious Kochi Metro rail project. A much-admired technocrat, he is credited with changing the face of the public transport system in the country.

This story has been updated to incorporate the latest developments.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Mar 4, 2021 3:03 PM IST