In a swift political move to forestall Prime Minister Narendra Modi from cornering the 'national highway' glory, the CPM on Wednesday organised parallel NH 66 inaugurations and "road shows" for the Thalappady-Chengala and Vengalam-Ramanattukara reaches.

The CPM state secretary, however, said that LDF ministers would not boycott the Prime Minister. "What has to be done according to protocol will be done," Govindan said. This indicated a communication gap at the highest level of the CPM. Excise and parliamentary affairs minister M B Rajesh had earlier said that he would not attend the inaugural function saying he would not tolerate such "absurdities".

Officially, the CPM is miffed that PWD minister Mohammad Riyas has not been invited to the event. "The PWD minister was not invited, but the BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar was. On the basis of which protocol was the BJP state president invited," CPM state secretary M V Govindan said on Wednesday. Govindan termed the PWD minister's omission as "weird".

The PWD minister himself expressed his disapproval. "Is it right to replace the PWD minister with the BJP state president," Riyas said. "If the BJP president was invited, shouldn't the KPCC president too have been called for the event?" he said.

In protest, the CPM organised two impromptu inaugurations, complete with road shows. Uduma's CPM MLA C H Kunhambu inaugurated the Thalappady-Chengala stretch of the highway, and the PWD minister inaugurated the Ramanattukara-Vengalam stretch.

On his part, the BJP state president was defiant. "The Chief Minister is coming for the event. But if they were so keen on the participation of the son-in-law, the Chief Minister should have given so in writing seven days before," Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

The Chief Minister is invited when the Prime Minister arrives for a programme. "It is up to the Chief Minister to decide who will accompany him to the programme. And if he was not happy with the list, he should have informed the centre seven to eight days before. Why did he not do it," he said.

The CPM state secretary said that the opening of the two NH 66 stretches was "a moment of great achievement for Keralam". "Keralam should have celebrated the event as one, keeping aside all party affiliations. But the central government has unfortunately changed this event into a platform of divisive politics," Govindan said.

He said that Keralam was the only state that financially contributed to the construction of the NH66. The NH cuts through five states; Starting from Panvel in Maharashtra to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, it also passes through Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. "Keralam is the only state that had contributed money for land acquisition. No other state offered a single paise," Govindan said.

Keralam had allocated ₹5580 crore through Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for land acquisition. "The ₹5580 crore is not the only liability that the state had to take upon itself. The Centre went on to subtract the amount from Keralam's annual open market borrowing capacity. If this is also factored in, Kerala's total liability on account of our commitment to NH development is ₹11,160 crore," Govindan said.

He said the Centre could recoup its NH investments through tolls. "But for Keralam, there is no chance of earning the money back," Govindan said.

Govindan also reminded of the agitation launched against the NH project at Keezhatoor in Kannur where the NH cuts through paddy land. "The agitation was led by the Congress and the BJP. But the LDF government could effectively repel these protests and go ahead with the completion of the NH stretches," he said.