Kerala: ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan to join BJP ahead of assembly polls

Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, who is popularly known as the “Metro Man”, is ready to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, said the Kerala state party president E Surendran on Thursday.

He will formally join the party during its Vijay Yatra in Kerala from Sunday. The 88-year-old is likely to contest the Kerala election, due by May.

“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.

The yatra will be led by Kerala BJP chief K Surendran. The BJP will launch the Yatra in Kerala on February 21 from Kasaragod as it seeks to expand its footprint ahead of polls. The yatra will culminate at Thiruvananthapuram in the first week of March. Kerala is among the five states where Assembly polls will be held later this year.

Kerala is scheduled to go to polls in April. In 2016 assembly elections out of 140 seats, BJP had won one seat – Nemom. The senior leaders believe that the party is likely to improve its performance in the upcoming elections.

Sreedharan retired as chief of the Delhi Metro in 2011. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.