Actor Mohanlal Viswanathan, the multiple national award winner (including the Padma Bhushan) from Kerala has now come out openly asking Keralites to make the smart move and choose E Sreedharan the Metroman as the next chief minister of the state. He released a video on social media applauding Sreedharan and his achievements. Like Mohanlal, Sreedharan too has a huge fan base all over Bharat and especially amongst Keralites. There are rumors of Mohanlal joining the BJP to enter into state-level politics.
Similarly, Sreedharan too has been awarded the Padma Vibushan by the country which is offered to its brilliant citizens for their contributions to society as a whole. Sreedharan is now the face of the BJP in Kerala and a hugely influential vote puller for the party. Mohanlal`s endorsement of the BJP and Sreedharan is exactly the kind of support that the party cadre had hoped for.
On his part, Sreedharan thanked Mohanlal for what he called the kind gesture and good wishes and added that together we can build a new Kerala.
Applauding Sreedharan’s willpower, Mohanlal listed out the 46-day revival of the Pamban railway bridge that storms had devastated back in late December of 1964 when a cyclone hit the area with winds exceeding 240 kms with storm surges that hit 25 feet. The government had given the railways 6 month while Sreedharan’s boss in the railways had given him 3 months to complete the herculean task.
Mohanlal mentioned another landmark considered too dangerous and impossible by predecessors of Sreedharan, the 900 kms long Konkan Railway connecting the coastal belt of the west coast that has now brought down the train travel distance from Mumbai to Kochi by a whopping 750 kms.
More than 2000 bridges and 92 tunnels were built in record time under the able leadership of Sreedharan. He added that Kerala needs Sreedharan’s vision to take Kerala through unchartered territory and ends by saying that he wishes Sreedharan victory.
Calling Sreedharan a brave national sculptor whose leadership allowed timely completion of metros in cities like Kochi and Delhi, Mohanlal added that as someone who finishes the job allocated before time and pays back any excess budgeted amounts to the government, Sreedharan has proved his immaculate stain-free character.
Mohanlal in his quest to appear secular has avoided openly discussing his political inclinations (though many understood his nationalist leanings) but he has also appealed for friends of his, including KB Ganesh Kumar, a left-leaning MLA and an actor, and Shibu Baby John, a communist who has now cozied up to the Congress. Both are sons of famous political fathers more than anything else who now nepotically dominate their personal fiefdoms. The only positive is that both do not have corruption charges against them and have done well as administrators and public servants. Both are also ex-ministers of Kerala.
Ganesh is a controversial figure and a shrewd public leader, unlike his father R Balakrishna Pillai an ex-Kerala Minister in several UDF ministries who was punished with a year behind bars for his role in abusing his position to award contracts while he was the power minister of the state. It was in fact VS Achuthananthan the then CPM chief minister who made sure that Balakrishna Pillai actually spends a whole year in jail, back in 2011.
Other ex-power ministers have been spared for the time being for their involvement with companies like Lavalin. The hypocrisy of the CPM and its leadership becomes clear when we consider that communist leaders accused of the same type of misdemeanors roam free.
Unlike other places, the corrupt and the greedy do not rush for ministries like industries since there are not many in Kerala. They prefer to milk the ones like power, fisheries, bars/ liquor, and the Public Works Department. Both the congress and the CPM blame each other but come elections, they forget and forgive each other at the expense of the law-abiding taxpayer.
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