Expressing his disenchantment with the BJP, Technocrat E. Sreedharan said that he would not continue in active politics.
Addressing the media at his residence in Ponnani on Thursday, Mr. Sreedharan said he learned a big lesson from the defeat he suffered in the Assembly election held in April this year. “The BJP cannot make any progress in Kerala without changing itself,” he said.
He said he did not need any political banner to continue his social work. “I entered politics not as an active politician, but as a bureaucrat. I entered politics in my old age. I could serve the country in many ways even before,” he said. However, he did not hide his disappointment in politics.
Mr. Sreedharan’s political entry and his campaign as the BJP candidate in Palakkad against United Democratic Front’s incumbent Shafi Parambil had stolen news headlines. He had promised to convert Palakkad into a modern town in five years if elected to the Assembly. The BJP had also projected him as its chief ministerial candidate.
However, the BJP did not win a single seat in Kerala in spite of its high-profile campaigns by pumping in crores of rupees. Mr. Sreedharan’s dreams of leading the State’s development on the BJP banner too suffered a heavy jolt, forcing him to retreat from active politics.
'SilverLine not viable for State'
He reiterated his opposition to the State’s ambitious 540-km-long semi high speed railway project, SilverLine.
Mr. Sreedharan said the project would not be viable and would push the State into heavy debts. He warned against the heavy environmental impact the K-Rail project could bring about for a tiny State like Kerala.
Mr. Sreedharan said the State was in need of yet another rail line, but the time was not ripe for it. The State, he said, was going through a financial crisis, and it would have to wait for a few more years.
He said the K-Rail was an ill-conceived project trying to be executed in a bad manner. He would have stood for the project had it been properly conceived with proper studies, the Metroman said.
