Since the Pinarayi Vijayan government came to power in Kerala, it has been at odds with E Sreedharan, the person who is credited with two of the most successful infrastructure projects of the country – Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro, and is popularly known as the ‘Metro Man’ across the country.
Pinarayi Vijayan, the CM of Kerala, has deliberately kept Sreedharan out of the state’s important metro projects like Kerala Light Metro. Both of them were also at odds in the operationality and profitability of Kochi Metro, because Sreedharan has been critical of CPM’s politics many times.
In 2019, after the Vijayan government brought a bill to allow political elections in colleges despite the ban on the same by Kerala High Court in 2017, Sreedharan slammed the CPM government, and an organisation headed by him sent a legal notice to Kerala CM.
“From burning effigies of principles to stabbing of students to murders, colleges across Kerala have been witnessing such instances. That each young person must have access to education is their fundamental right, but playing politics on campuses is not a fundamental right. And not just students, politicians from outside college campuses also promote such activities with their support,” Mr Sreedharan, who heads the Foundation For Restoration Of National Values, said.
Moreover, Sreedharan called Vijayan an autocrat (which he is by the virtue of being a Communist) because the Kerala CM blocked many important infrastructure projects due to political agenda. “They opposed the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line which pained me. In place of Nilambur-Nanjangud, they wanted the Thalassery-Mysore railway project,” said Sreedharan.
After repeated humiliations all these years, Sreedharan could not see his state in the hands of anti-national communists anymore and decided to come to politics. Sreedharan is also ready to contest for the top post against the Vijayan, whose vendetta politics he hates.
“If BJP comes to power in Kerala, I am ready to become the chief minister. The party has not asked me till now as it is too premature. But if BJP asks me, I am willing to take up the post and show how a state can be run efficiently like we are running DMRC,” said Sreedharan.
Sreedharan, a civil engineer who has worked on a number of projects and is known for efficient implementation, would prove better than Vijayan on many fronts. With decades of experience in the public as well as the private sector infrastructure building, the 88-year-old technocrat will work to improve governance and state capacity instead of getting involved in petty politics like Vijayan.
Vijayan, who is known for vendetta politics, has used the state machinery against the RSS and BJP people instead of working for the development of the citizens. Given his career in student politics, his only objective is to achieve power by politicising the college campus and the streets of the state. His ruthless methods to sideline the colleagues like V S Achuthanandan are well-known.
In more than four years of his administration, the state debt almost doubled to 3.27 lakh crore rupees. Today every citizen of Kerala has a debt burden of more than 1.2 lakh rupees. His government is destroying the macroeconomic parameters of the state and pushing it on the verge of bankruptcy.
On the other hand, Sreedharan knows very well how to handle large projects in an efficient manner, and will also manage the state efficiently. Moreover, he will also minimise the culture of political violence in the state and show it a new path of development and rapid industrialisation. Therefore, Sreedharan would prove to be a better CM than Vijayan on any given day.