THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The travails made by Kerala BJP are nobodies guess these days. At first, it was an unprecedented outreach toward Christians in wake of easter. Later, the move sprawled to connecting with Muslims during the Ramzan times. More and more minorities are not shying away from showing allegiance to the saffron party, and comes the icing on the cake as Vande Bharat trains. BJP looks to bolster this towards the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Union minister V Muraleedharan was alerted about the announcement days before. The planning went adept as BJP workers were stationed at every point waving saffron flags and showering petals at the elite high-speed train. Meanwhile, Kerala minister V Abdurahiman said he knew the Vande Bharat introduction only through the media and showed dismay over not receiving any official notice from the centre.

The railway started preparation for this introduction months back. Interestingly, the Kerala government was kept at bay from receiving any information regarding the opening. Two weeks back, Kerala CM wrote a letter to prime minister Narendra Modi asking for an introduction of famed Vande Bharat trains in Kerala. The questions inside the parliament too received tepid responses which made many surmise Kerala being omitted from the benefits of Vande Bharat.

Seeing BJP leveraging the move, the left-aligned members have started nitpicking errors within the development. LDF views the sudden introduction of Vande Bharat as an attempt to obliterate Kerala’s hope of a silver line scheme. The purported project aimed at running trains at 200km per hour across the breadth of the state. Vande Bharat meanwhile will run at 100 km speed in Kerala only to gradually shift to a higher 160 km in the coming months.

“ Nobody has been thrown out from their homes to introduce Vande Bharat in Kerala,” V Muraleedharan jibed at LDF’s plan of resettling many families for K-Rail plans.

After the thumping victory in Tripura, PM Narendra Modi gave high hopes about turning Kerala saffron in the coming years. Vnade Bhart is ergo viewed as a start to Modi's plan for the southern state.