T’PURAM, 11 AUG

The Kerala Congress backed the State Congress in accusing the BJP of taking undue credit for the City’s newly opened Yellow Line Metro. Kerala Congress said that the project was delayed for years due to the BJP.

The 19km line, linking RV Road to Bommasandra, was ready for over a year but was launched last week, due to not having sufficient trains.

“What most people don't realise is that they (BJ) are responsible for the delayed trainsets through their actions to transfer Rail coach manufacturing away from BEML, the PSU based in Bangalore City, to a Chinese company, which backfired on them,” it wrote on X.

Kerala Congress pointed to the 2019 decision by the BJP-led Yediyurappa government and the Modi government at the Centre to award the rolling-stock contract to Chinese firm CRRC Nanjing Puzhen instead of local PSU BEML. 

After the 2020 Galwan Valley clash with China in Ladakh, the Centre banned CRRC from tenders, stalling delivery.

“No trains were being manufactured and (BJP MP) Tejasvi Surya was in slumber,” it wrote. Manufacturing resumed only after CRRC partnered with Kolkata’s Titagarh Rail Systems in 2024, but Chinese engineers, who were needed to build the trains, faced six-month visa delays. “Also note that for Adani's solar project, he needed Chinese Engineers around that time, which made the clearance possible.”

Kerala Congress said BJP leaders were now cutting ribbons on projects they had obstructed, while the Congress in Karnataka was responsible for completing the Yellow Line and easing the City’s traffic woes.