Modi to launch new projects in Kochi on Sunday

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a flying visit to Kochi on Sunday to launch some new projects of central public sector organisations.

Modi will arrive from Tamil Nadu in the afternoon and leave for Delhi around 6 p.m.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mansukh L Mandaviya, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will share the stage with Modi.

The programme includes dedicating BPCL's Rs 6,000-crore Propylene Derivatives Petrochemicals Project to the nation, the launch of Sagarika, the Rs 25 crore Cochin Port's international cruise terminal, laying the foundation stone for Cochin Port's reconstruction of the south coal berth and a new knowledge centre of Cochin Shipyard Ltd's Vigyana Sagar among others.

Modi will in all likelihood attend a party leaders' meet in the state as the assembly polls ares around the corner, where he is expected to give a pep talk to the leaders.

According to sources, state BJP leaders are also expecting a cabinet expansion as polls are to be held in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

At present the lone Keralite in the Modi cabinet is Muraleedharan and state leaders expect that Modi might include one more leader from Kerala besides West Bengal and Assam.

Among the hopefuls are former Union Minister K.J. Alphons, recently inducted former CPI-M and Congress lawmaker A.P. Abdullakutty, former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekheran, present Mizoram Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai and former state party president P.K. Krishnadas.