Kerala, which had witnessed intense protests due to which the state authorities had to shelve its proposed flagship Silver Line semi-high-speed rail hall venture, will get a brand new Vande Bharat Express prepare from the Centre quickly.
Though an official announcement is but to come, the state BJP management confirmed on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would make the large announcement on his arrival within the state later this month.
They described it as a “Vishu kaineettam” to the people of the state from the Centre and the Prime Minister. According to tradition, elders of the family give gifts, especially money, to members of the house as “kaineettam” on the day of the harvest competition “Vishu”, which falls on Saturday, April 15, this year.
The unexpected arrival of rakes of the semi-high speed train in Palakkad this morning from Chennai evoked a great response among local people, who thronged the station along with BJP workers to get a glimpse of it and accord it a grand reception.
Railway officials of the train were garlanded, and sweets were distributed among them by saffron party activists celebrating the occasion. “I am so glad to see that the coaches of an express train like Vande Bharat are arriving in my state. I am in my late 70s, and I am so happy to know that I can travel in an express train in Kerala soon,” an elated aged man advised reporters at Palakkad railway station.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan and state BJP president Ok Surendran stated the brand new Vande Bharat Express was a “Vishu Kaineettam” by PM Modi to the people of the state.
In a Facebook post, Surendran also criticised their political opponents. “Those who have been making fun of (us) over Vande Bharat are now lamenting that they have not been informed about its arrival,” he stated.
He additionally stated it was “infantile” to allege that the prestigious train was being introduced in the state only in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Sharing the same sentiments, Muraleedharan said the Prime Minister had now given an answer to those who raised doubts over the introduction of the Vande Bharat Express in Kerala, and thanked Modi and the railway minister for allotting it to the southern state.
He told reporters here that the semi-high-speed train would accelerate the development of Kerala.
Taking a dig at the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government here over its shelved Silver Line project, he said the Centre does not bring development by evicting tens of thousands of people.
“The state government is trying to implement the Silver Line by evicting thousands of people. But, the Centre is bringing Vande Bharat for the smooth journey of everyone without causing any difficulty to anyone,” he stated.
He additionally rejected the costs of a political agenda behind the allotment and stated the PM had made such bulletins forward of his visits earlier than as effectively.
CPI(M) Lok Sabha member A M Ariff and UDF MP N Ok Premachandran welcomed the surprising allotment of the Vande Bharat Express to Kerala however opined that it couldn’t be seen as a particular consideration proven by the Modi authorities to the southern state.
Ariff stated the visitors points in Kerala couldn’t be resolved by the arrival of a single prepare.
Rejecting BJP leaders’ claims that the prepare was the PM’s present to the individuals of the state, Premachandran stated there was no want to attribute any politics to it and that Kerala had been allotted the brand new prepare simply as many different states have.
V Abdurahiman, the minister accountable for railway affairs within the state, stated he would reply provided that the state authorities obtained official affirmation on this regard.
The arrival of Vande Bharat is probably going to be a scorching political matter throughout the 2024 Lok Sabha polls within the state, because the BJP leaders and employees are claiming that the prepare was allotted to the state thanks to the PM’s look after Keralites.
BJP leaders are calling the Vande Bharat to prepare the reply to the state authorities’s prices that the Centre was creating hurdles within the improvement path of Kerala by denying permission to its formidable Silver Line venture, which it was pressured to shelve due to intense protests by native individuals.
The Silver Line venture was envisaged to cowl a 530-kilometre stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod and was to be developed by Ok-Rail, a three way partnership of the Kerala authorities and the Ministry of Railways.
It was deliberate that the semi-high-speed rail line would have 11 stations and be constructed at an estimated value of round Rs 64,000 crore.
Also referred to as Ok-Rail, the mammoth venture was opposed by events, together with Congress and the BJP, in addition to by the native individuals in some elements of the state.
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