3 min readThiruvananthapuramUpdated: Mar 11, 2026 12:03 PM IST
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues will keep away from the official functions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kochi Wednesday.
The Chief Minister’s Office confirmed that Vijayan and cabinet colleagues M B Rajesh and K Krishnankutty will stay away from the inauguration of various development projects, including two stretches of NH66. The boycott comes after Kerala Public Works Minister P A Mohammed Riyas did not figure among the invitees. At the same time, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been listed among the invitees along with Union ministers for the Kochi event.
Reacting to the controversy, Chandrasekhar told the media: “The chief minister and other ministers are keeping away from the function for mobilisation of Muslim votes in the elections. Is there a norm that the entire family of the chief minister should be invited for the function. (Riyas is the son in law of the chief minister). As per the protocol, the CM can decide. The programme has been fixed much earlier. If he wanted Riyas to be invited, he could have taken up the matter with the concerned party much earlier. If the chief minister wanted his son in law to be present in the function, he should have raised the matter at the appropriate time”.
Kerala Minister Rajesh said: “The presence of BJP state president at the function shows how BJP is using the public fund for political campaigning. Dropping Riyas from the function is a challenge to Kerala. People of Kerala wil give a fitting reply to the BJP in the coming assembly elections.”
In Kerala, the state government has also been taking credit for the development of NH66, saying the Left government spent around Rs 5,000 crore on land acquisition for the highway. Ahead of the Assembly elections, the highway project is being projected as one of the major achievements of the Vijayan government over the past decade.
Modi will inaugurate the Thalappady–Chengala and Vengalam–Ramanattukara stretches of NH66. He will also inaugurate a few railway projects and lay the foundation stone for a 50 MW floating solar project at West Kallada in Kollam district. After the official events, Modi will address a convention of the NDA, marking the BJP-led alliance’s election campaign in Kerala.
This is Modi’s second visit to Kerala in the past three months. In January, he visited the state capital after the BJP wrested power in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation.
