Kochi, March 11 – The Kerala government is set to boycott Wednesday’s National Highway inauguration ceremony, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ernakulam.
This appears to be a result of the exclusion of State Public Works Minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas from the event.
Besides being the Public Works Minister, Riyas is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Chief Minister Vijayan and ministers M.B. Rajesh and K. Krishnankutty have decided not to attend the function.
Minister Rajesh said that the invitation to the program reached them only on Tuesday, and that he already had prior commitments in his constituency.
Krishnankutty also cited inconvenience in attending the event.
This development comes amid a political row after Riyas was reportedly not invited to the ceremony.
The State government's decision to stay away is widely seen as a protest against his exclusion from the program.
The event is part of a larger function where the Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate development projects worth Rs 10,800 crore in Kerala.
Although Chief Minister Vijayan's name reportedly appeared in the program notice, he has chosen not to participate.
Among those included in the function are Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the president of the BJP's Kerala unit, and Union Minister George Kurian.
The key projects being inaugurated include the six-lane Thalappady–Chengala stretch of National Highway 66 and the Vengalam–Ramanattukara six-lane section of the Kozhikode bypass.
Both are part of the ongoing expansion of National Highway 66 through Kerala.
Reacting to the controversy, Riyas said that he had not received any communication inviting him to the program and termed the situation "not befitting a democracy."
He pointed out that the State government had played a major role in the project, including funding land acquisition.
Riyas also said he understood that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who heads the road transport ministry, would not be attending the event.
He criticised what he described as a "hastily arranged inauguration" and argued that without the support of the LDF government, the project itself might have stalled.
The CPI(M) has indicated that it will raise the issue politically, accusing the BJP of attempting to take sole credit for a project implemented with the State government’s participation.
The party also alleged that a development program had been turned into a political event.
State BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar reacting to the boycott said that the State government is headed by the Chief Minister and there is no rule that the CM's son-in-law should also be included.
"There is a protocol and I don’t know of any rule that the CM’s family must also be invited. CM is aware as the invite came to him a week back and only now this issue has surfaced. He could have pointed it out when he got the invite," he said.
Chandrasekhar said that the "PM's programmes were announced in advance a week back and the CM was invited and he could have informed then, but kept quiet and this became an issue on Wednesday. It has been raked up with Assembly polls round the corner."