Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday suggested that the Centre was having second thoughts about the Left government’s semi-high-speed railway line that has become a bone of contention with the Opposition parties in the state.

Vijayan’s hint at the Centre’s apparent reluctance to clear the 529km K-Rail Silver Line project that would cost Rs 64,000 crore came while addressing a CPM workshop in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

The project has faced criticism from the Opposition Congress and BJP and environment activist Medha Patkar, among others.

Vijayan explained that the state government could proceed on its own on several development projects, but not ones like the K-Rail that requires the Centre’s permission. This appeared to be a climbdown from his earlier position that the Centre was in favour of the project and the state would see it through.

“In certain cases we can proceed even if they (Opposition) oppose. But the central government’s permission is required for projects like the Silver Line. We cannot implement it without the Centre’s clearance,” the chief minister said.

Kerala has been witnessing massive protests against the railway line that proposes to connect Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod in the north and reduce travel time to under four hours from 12 hours.

“Although the Centre was in favour of this initially, they could have developed second thoughts when the Opposition parties, including the BJP, come out against the project. So we can proceed only if the Centre permits,” Vijayan said.

Vijayan had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March seeking his help in speeding up the project. He had then said the Prime Minister had said he would talk to the railway minister and see what could be done to clear K-Rail.

The chief minister flayed the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the BJP for jointly opposing development work in Kerala on the presumption that such projects would help the Left Democratic Front stay in power.

“Both the UDF and the BJP are opposed to development projects, assuming they would work against their interests and favour the LDF in some way. So they are working to sabotage development projects,” Vijayan said.

“The relief they (UDF) had when we came to power in 2016 was that they would be back in power in 2021. Now they have realised we are still in power after 2021. So they are trying to stall all development projects to ensure we don’t retain power in the future. That’s the fundamental reason for their opposition to all kinds of development works,” he told CPM cadres.

The event was held under tight security with even the media kept out of the EMS Academy during the chief minister’s address in view of the ongoing protests seeking Vijayan’s resignation over allegations about his involvement in a gold smuggling case.

Thousands of yellow boundary marker stones that earmark the land to be taken over for the K-Rail project were uprooted over several months of protests in the state. The CPM national leadership had however stood solid behind the chief minister and the K-Rail project.