The BJP’s Kerala unit has decided to get the party’s central leadership to name “Metroman” E. Sreedharan as its chief ministerial candidate in the poll-bound state.

State party president K. Surendran on Thursday announced that the BJP leadership would be asked to project the technocrat for the top post.

Sreedharan had said he wanted to helm a BJP government in the state even before officially joining the party.

“We have requested the party leadership to make Sreedharan the chief ministerial candidate,” Surendran said.

On Thursday, Sreedharan visited the Palarivattom flyover in Kochi that was rebuilt by the Left Democratic Front government after its faulty construction during the previous United Democratic Front government, which faced allegations of corruption and mishandling of funds set aside for the project.

The present government had demolished the flyover based on a study conducted by IIT Madras and appointed Sreedharan as the chief adviser of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to supervise its reconstruction.

With the flyover to be handed over to the government by Sunday, Sreedharan put his party in a bit of a spot by lauding Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society that rebuilt the bridge three months ahead of its eight-month schedule.

“It’s the first time I am seeing such a good contract work,” he said, lauding the Society perhaps not realising that his party had made allegations of corruption against it.

Surendran later told reporters that Sreedharan perhaps didn’t know the corruption in the Society.

“I am only talking about the corruption and not the technical competence of their work,” he said, trying to minimise the possible impact of Sreedharan’s comment.

Before leaving the flyover, Sreedharan said he would not be wearing the DMRC uniform anymore “This is the last day I am wearing this uniform. I wore the DMRC’s typical outdoor uniform for the first time in November 1997 in Delhi. (The) same practice continued for the last 24 years,” he said.