Kochi: BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar responded to the controversy surrounding the inauguration ceremony of various development projects being implemented by the Central Government in Kerala. His remarks came amid criticism over the exclusion of Public Works Minister Mohammed Riyas from the event inaugurating national highway development projects to be attended by the Prime Minister.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the head of the state government is the Chief Minister and that he has been invited to the function. However, nowhere is it written that the Chief Minister’s son-in-law must also be invited, he added.

“According to the Government of India’s protocol, the head of the state is the Chief Minister. He has been invited. Where is it written that along with the Chief Minister, his son-in-law and family must also be invited? There are only 30 days left for the elections. The CPM is a party that keeps searching for controversies. They know that after 30 days the Chief Minister and Riyas will no longer be ministers. So they are trying to create a controversy somehow,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

He also stated that the Chief Minister has been officially invited in his capacity as the head of the state, and it is up to him to decide who should accompany him to the function. Criticism over not inviting Mohammed Riyas is merely election-driven drama, he alleged. According to him, the CPM is trying to divert public attention from development projects. He added that it was the failure of the state government to provide in advance the list of people who would accompany the Chief Minister, and that the issue is purely a political strategy.

Minister Mohammed Riyas’s name was not included in the list of participants for the programme. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and ministers MB Rajesh and K Krishnankutty have been invited to the event. The exclusion of the Public Works Minister had triggered major controversy.