Metro Man E Sreedharan is BJP’s CM candidate for Kerala’s elections

‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of Kerala Assembly polls, will be the party’s pick for the chief minister, state chief K Surendran said on Thursday.

Earlier, Sreedharan had said that Thursday would be his last day in DMRC uniform. He said that he would file his nomination for the elections only after resigning from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Speaking to the media after completing the final round of inspections at the reconstructed Palarivattom flyover, Sreedharan said that he would continue to oversee the projects as an MLA or in any other post.

“Even if I come, I won’t be in this uniform. Certainly, I will have to oversee projects,” he said, adding, “Be it an MLA or any other post, when a work is underway, I will certainly have to oversee. I will give nomination only after resigning from DMRC.”

The government had appointed Sreedharan as the chief advisor for Palarivattom flyover project which had been a political flashpoint.

“This will be the last day I will be wearing this dress. This is DMRC’s typical outdoor uniform,” he said on Thursday, adding that he first wore the uniform in November 1997 in Delhi, and continued the same practice for 24 years.

On being questioned whether he would continue to oversee the government’s major development projects, Sreedharan said that he will certainly be there, only not in the uniform.

Sreedharan, the architect of the Delhi Metro, had formally joined the BJP on February 25 in the presence of Union Minister R K Singh at a function at Changaramkulam in Malappuram district.

He had earlier said that he will work as a technocrat rather than as a politician.