Sidelined for inauguration, former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy to take metro ride today

Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, however, kept mum about his exclusion from the main list of special invitees.

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy will on Tuesday take his first ride on the Kochi Metro along with all United Democratic Front (UDF) legislators.

The metro was inaugurated on Saturday and Chandy's name was not in the main list of invitees

Chandy's being kept out of the main list of special invitees alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised eyebrows, as it was during his tenure 2011-2016 that practically every aspect of the metro, including the inking of the agreement, commencement of the work and the trial run was completed.

Chandy, however, kept mum about his exclusion from the main list of special invitees. Though he was given an invite to be seated among the audience, he did not attend the event.

The Congress is planning to make the Kochi metro ride a major event.

Work on Kochi Metro began in 2012 after the Oommen Chandy government entrusted the project to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, with its principal advisor Sreedharan overseeing it.

The first phase is 25 km long of which 13 km is completed and its commercial operations have begun.

(With IANS inputs)