'Metro Man' E Sreedharan is not BJP's CM candidate in Kerala, Union Minister issues clarification

New Delhi: Hours after Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan had declared 'Metro man' E Sreedharan as BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, the minister issued a clarification saying a formal decision has not yet been made.

"There were some statements that E Sreedharan will be CM candidate in Kerala. I heard media reports that the party has announced him as the CM candidate. After I talked to the party president he said that he hasn`t made any statement and he was only referring to some issue in Kerala, So it should not be considered as an announcement, I m clarifying it," Muraleedharan was quoted as saying by ANI.

Earlier, Muraleedharan had posted a message on Twitter, which he later deleted, saying Sreedharan will be named as BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections.

"BJP will fight Kerala polls with E Sreedharan Ji as its chief ministerial candidate. We will defeat both CPIM and Congress to provide a corruption-free, development-oriented Governance for the people of Kerala," the tweet read.

Kerala BJP chief K Surendran had endorsed E Sreedharan by saying that the face of the state can be changed if the latter is made the CM. "If Metroman becomes the chief minister, the face of Kerala can be changed," Surendran told ANI.

Former chief of Delhi Metro formally joined BJP in Malappuram on February 25 in presence of Union Minister RK Singh.

On February 18, Sreedharan announced that he will join the BJP. "If BJP comes to power in Kerala, I am ready to become the chief minister. The party has not asked me till now as it is too premature. But if BJP asks me, I am willing to take up the post and show how a state can be run efficiently like we are running DMRC," Sreedharan had said.

The election to 140-member Assembly will be conducted on April 6 while the results wil be declared on May 2.