KOCHI: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and senior Congress leaders including Oommen Chandy will take a ride in the Metro on Tuesday. The decision was taken during a meeting of the District Congress Committee, convened to discuss the row over not inviting Ramesh Chennithala and DMRC principal advisor E. Sreedharan on the dais of the Metro inaugural function. Though both of them were included later in the list by the Prime Minister’s Office as per the request of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the DCC meeting termed the incident ‘unfortunate’.
Meanwhile, Prof. K.V Thomas MP has observed that it was the previous UPA government at the Centre and the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government which initiated the Kochi Metro project and completed 85 per cent of the works. While inaugurating a people’s meeting organised by the UDF Ernakulam assembly constituency committee at High Court junction on Thursday, he said that the three-year old Modi government would not be able to delete the impact of revolutionary projects like the Five-Year Plan and the Food Security initiative implemented by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
DCC president T.J Vinod, Hibi Eden MLA, former Mayor Tony Chammany and other UDF leaders also attended. Meanwhile, Youth Congress activists organised a symbolic inaugural function of the Metro Rail at Palarivattom. A group of activists wearing the masks of E. Sreedharan and Oommen Chandy did the inauguration by cutting the ribbon and declared the project commissioned. Earlier, they took out a march to Palarivattom Metro station. While addressing the gathering, KSU former district president Titto Antony said that no one could deny the role of E. Sreedharan and Oommen Chandy in realising the Kochi Metro project.
