Kerala CM and ministers skip PM Modi event amid row over Riyas exclusion

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and several ministers skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official event in Kochi amid a political row over the exclusion of PWD Minister P A Mohammed Riyas. BJP leaders dismissed the controversy citing protocol

Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers stayed away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official event in the state on Wednesday amid a raging political row over the exclusion of the state’s PWD Minister P A Mohammed Riyas from the event.

Though no reason was cited for CM Vijayan skipping the high-profile event, his cabinet colleagues pointed to personal inconvenience as the reason for staying away from the function held in this port city.

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The prime minister, who came on a one-day visit to the state, inaugurated various development projects, including the first stretch of the six-lane expansion of National Highway 66, during the official programme here.

The projects inaugurated by him include the Thalappady-Chengala stretch of NH 66 and the Vengalam-Ramanattukara stretch of the Kozhikode bypass, both upgraded to six lanes.

Government sources made it clear in the morning itself that CM Vijayan would not attend the event, though his name was included in the programme schedule.

State Ministers M B Rajesh and K Krishnankutty, who had been invited to the PM’s event, also said they were not taking part because of personal reasons.

Reacting to the development, Minister Riyas said he had not received any official communication inviting him to the function and termed the move “political” and “not befitting a democracy”.

Every PWD minister to date has been invited to such inaugurations, he said, arguing that excluding or insulting anyone now will not change the public’s perception of who actually made these projects a reality.

He claimed that the state government had played a key role in the National Highway development by facilitating land acquisition and sharing funds.

The PWD minister said the National Highway development project in the state was revived only after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government came to power in 2016 following the intervention of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

He further claimed that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had informed in writing that the project was being abandoned and had shut down its office related to it.

According to the minister, the project was later revived after the LDF government assumed office in 2016, with the CM taking the initiative to bring it back on track.

He further said that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and NHAI officials had on several occasions appreciated the coordination led by the chief minister and the state Public Works Department from the beginning of the project.

Criticising the inclusion of BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the event, he sought to know whether the saffron party president was the one to attend such a function instead of the PWD minister.

Riyas added that attempts to “erase the role” of the LDF government in the project would not succeed, as the people of Kerala were aware of the facts.

Meanwhile, M B Rajesh said he had received information about his inclusion in the programme schedule only on Tuesday and had prior engagements in his constituency.

“I am not attending the PM’s programme. Yesterday, I came to know that my name was included in the list. I already have scheduled programmes in my constituency. I don’t want to avoid such committed events,” he said.

Speaking to the media, Rajesh also said he had a bad experience while going to attend an event of PM Modi as a state government representative last time in Thiruvananthapuram.

He alleged that the SPG officials had asked him to show his Aadhar card even though he possessed a VIP pass approved by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Reacting to the development, General Education Minister V Sivankutty termed the exclusion of Riyas “shocking” and “politically motivated”.

He said it was surprising that representatives of the Kerala government were deliberately left out of the function to inaugurate the highway, for which the state had spent substantial funds on land acquisition.

Sivankutty also said Kerala was the first state in the country where a state government directly spent money for the development of national highways.

The minister claimed that sidelining the Public Works Department and the LDF government in connection with the project was a violation of democratic norms.

He also accused the BJP of attempting to use a project implemented with the “sweat and money” of the state for “narrow political gains”.

However, BJP leaders tried to bring a “father-in-law and son-in-law” angle into the political row and said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been officially invited as per protocol, and there was no need to invite his son-in-law.

BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar told reporters that, as per protocol, Vijayan, being the head of the state, was invited for Modi’s official event, and if the Marxist veteran was aggrieved over his son-in-law (Minister Riyas) not being there, that was his problem.

“As head of the state, the CM was invited in accordance with the protocol. It is nowhere said that the CM’s son-in-law (Riyas) and other family members also have to be invited. If they have a problem with it, so be it,” the BJP leader said.

“Elections will be held in the state in around 30 days. The CPI(M) is trying to create a controversy now as they know that after 30 days, Vijayan will not be CM and Riyas will not be a minister,” Chandrasekhar said.

Senior BJP leader B Gopalakrishnan alleged that the state government and CPI(M) were attempting to consolidate Muslim votes in the upcoming Assembly polls by boycotting the PM’s event.