'Metro Man' E Sreedharan to join BJP in Kerala ahead of polls; party asks him to contest

In a big boost to the BJP ahead of the 5 assembly polls, 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan is all set to join the saffron party in Kerala, the party's state president K Surendran announced on Thursday. Making the announcement, Kerala BJP's K Surendran revealed that Sreedharan would join the party during the Vijay Yatra scheduled to be flagged off from February 21 in the southern state. Sreedharan is the latest addition of heavyweights to the BJP as the saffron party prepares to fight polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and West Bengal. As per reports, the BJP has requested the Metro man to contest in the upcoming Assembly polls and is awaiting the response of E Sreedharan.

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BJP's Vijay Yatra in Kerala

Addressing a press conference to highlight the preparations for the BJP's 'Vijay Yatra' from Kasaragod on February 21, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the people of Kerala would understand that there was no gain for them in supporting Congress. The BJP leader alleged senior IUML leader Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal had justified the Turkey government's controversial conversion of Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque. He also attacked the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and the previous Congress-led UDF government, alleging both had failed to address the issues of the people.

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Pralhad Joshi reiterated BJP's vow to expose the failures of the LDF government and the earlier UDF governments and remarked that both governments had performed miserably. Further, the BJP leader announced that the Vijay Yatra in Kerala would be flagged off by UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Kerala BJP president K Surendran at Kasargod on February 21. Senior party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the yatra when it reaches Thiruvananthapuram on March 7, he added.

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PM's development push to Kerala

On Sunday, PM Modi visited the state to lay the foundation stone of various development projects in Kochi where he spoke about how the new projects would further Kerala's journey to becoming 'Aatmanirbhar.' While inaugurating the Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical complex of the Kochi refinery PM said, "This project will help our journey towards becoming Aatmanirbhar. With this complex, forex will be saved, a wide range of industries would gain, and employment opportunities will be generated." 

PM Modi also spoke about furthering tourism in the state encouraging the youth to come up with innovative ideas for tourism-related projects. "I urge our young start-up friends to think about innovative tourism-related products. I also urge you all to use this time and travel to as many nearby areas as possible. You'd be happy to know that the tourism sector in India has grown well in the last five years," he said. 

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