After Kerala government's request to the PMO, E Sreedharan, known as India's "metro man", will be included in the inauguration of the Kochi Metro on Saturday, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There was a huge controversy that erupted after Sreedharan was "sidelined" from Kochi Metro inauguration.
The office of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who wrote to the Prime Minister's Office yesterday asking it to allow Mr Sreedharan to be on stage with Narendra Modi tweeted:
As the top advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corp, which has constructed the Kochi metro, Mr Sreedharan played a lead role in the new project and many have objected to what they describe as his being sidelined.
Sreedharan had said he has no complaints about not being allowed to share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he inaugurates the Kochi metro on Saturday.
"We should not create controversy over this issue. The PM's safety should be given the priority...It is compulsory that whatever decisions taken by the safety agency for the safety of PM should be followed," said Sreedharan .
Kochi metro officials claimed Sreedharan was included in the seating plan they sent for review to the PMO. "The final list is made by the PMO (Prime Minister's Office). We have no role in this," said Elias George, a top official of the Kochi Metro Rail Corp, according to news reports.
"This shows the arrogance of the BJP," alleged PT Thomas, the legislator from Kochi who was also allegedly edited out of the list sent by Kerala by Modi's office. But Sreedharan said he does not feel insulted and he will attend Saturday's function. "I feel no heaviness...I will certainly be there.. I will attend the programme," he said.
As a humble man, Sreedharan has a lot of fans, one of the Twitter users asked: "Whether he was in the list initially that was submitted by the GoK, it needs to be clarified. There are calls to make the list public.
