The BJP has made a hurried turnaround on whether it would project “Metroman” E. Sreedharan as its chief ministerial candidate in poll-bound Kerala.

A day after declaring that he had asked the BJP high command to project Sreedharan as the party’s chief ministerial face in Kerala, BJP state president K. Surendran on Friday claimed that it was not what he meant.

“I had only said the people and the party want Sreedharan to be projected as our chief ministerial candidate,” Surendran told reporters on Friday.

Hours after Surendran’s announcement on Thursday, minister of state for external affairs V. Muraleedharan had clarified that the party had not decided on any chief ministerial candidate.

While Sreedharan had unilaterally declared that he wanted to be the chief minister if Kerala voted the party to power, the BJP has been cautious since it usually does not name anyone for the top post.

According to a party source, Surendran’s announcement did not go down well with the state unit. “These matters are decided by the national leadership,” said a BJP source. He said the issue had come up at a BJP core committee meeting on Friday.

Although the BJP had so far won just one seat in the Assembly, that too in 2016, the party has launched a massive campaign to carve out a toehold in the state this time.