Controversy has erupted in Kerala after State Public Works Minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas was excluded from the inauguration of several development projects, including national highway initiatives, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kochi.
Riyas alleged that excluding him from the event amounts to an insult to Kerala. He said replacing the minister of the department concerned with the BJP state president at the inauguration of major development projects in the state is not in keeping with democratic norms.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for various development projects worth ₹10,800 crore. The function is scheduled to be held at Kaloor Stadium at 1:15 pm.
The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for a polypropylene plant to be set up at the BPCL Kochi Refinery at a cost of ₹5,500 crore.
Another key project to be inaugurated is the six-lane stretch of National Highway 66 between Talappady and Chengala, built at a cost of ₹2,650 crore. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Vengalam–Ramanattukara six-lane stretch of the Kozhikode bypass, constructed at an approximate cost of ₹2,140 crore.
Riyas noted that the National Highway project—whose office had been shut down after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officially informed in writing in 2014 that it was being abandoned—was revived in 2016 after the LDF government came to power, through the intervention of the Chief Minister. He also said that Kerala was the first state in India to agree to contribute ₹5,600 crore for national highway development.
The minister also pointed out that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and NHAI officials have repeatedly appreciated the effective coordination led by the chief minister and the Public Works Department since the beginning of the project.
“In such a project involving multiple stakeholders, excluding the department minister from the official function and instead including the BJP state president is not appropriate,” he said.
He further asked that if the organisers chose to invite the leader of one political party, shouldn’t the presidents of other parties also have been invited. Even if attempts are made to erase the role of the LDF government in the project, the people of Kerala will recognise the facts, he added.
According to the official guest list, those invited include Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, ministers M.B. Rajesh and K. Krishnankutty, Union ministers Suresh Gopi and George Kurian, MPs Benny Behanan and Hibi Eden, MLA Uma Thomas, and BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar. However, the chief minister will not attend the function owing to the exclusion of minister Riyas, who is also the CM’s son-in-law.
BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar reacted to the controversy, saying that, as per protocol, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been officially invited and that there was no need to invite his son-in-law.
When it was pointed out that P.A. Mohammed Riyas is the state’s Public Works Minister, Chandrasekhar responded that it is the chief minister who should decide which ministers ought to attend the function.
He also said that if there had been an insistence on inviting Riyas, the matter could have been communicated seven days in advance.
Chandrashekar alleged that the controversy was a political tactic to divert attention ahead of the elections. “All the projects being announced today are for the benefit of the people. However, the state government is trying to deliberately create a controversy,” he said.
Chandrasekhar further clarified that he had been invited in his capacity as a former Union minister and said there was no need to create controversy over it.
A curious political ritual hides underneath this episode. Infrastructure projects involve many layers of government—Union ministries, state departments, and local administrations. Credit, therefore, becomes a political currency. When a ribbon is cut, the ceremony often doubles as a quiet battle over narrative: who built it, who enabled it, and who gets photographed next to the plaque. In modern politics, the plaque can be as contested as the project itself.