State president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) P.C. Chacko said here on Thursday that those who opposed the semi high-speed SilverLine rail project were opposing the development of Kerala. A State with congested roads and slow traffic would not develop, said Mr. Chacko, while speaking to reporters after a meeting of the State leadership of the party here.
He said it was a combination of the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and fundamentalist groups such as the Welfare Party and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) that were opposing the project. He said the Congress party had promised in its election manifesto in 2011 that if voted to power it would work to create a 300 km/hour high-speed rail corridor in the State. The party was adopting double standards in opposing the project, he alleged.
In response to the opposition to the rail project, the NCP planned to organise dharnas in front of all railway stations in the State to create awareness about the project and to highlight its positive sides.
Mr. Chacko said the NCP would have offices in all the 140 Assembly constituencies in the State by January-end. The party planned a meeting of 2,000 delegates in February. He said the party stood united and there were only differences of personal opinion among party members.
He said the Congress had become too weak to oppose the BJP and regional party leaders like Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal held the key to opposing the party ruling the Centre at present. He said it was NCP national leader Sharad Pawar who had helped oust the BJP in Maharashtra.
Referring to MP Binoy Viswam’s recent statement that if the Congress party was destroyed it would create a bad political situation, Mr. Chacko said Mr. Viswam had misread the political situation and the Congress was leaderless at present and very weak.
