The State committee of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Friday moved to secure an early-bird advantage in the campaigning for the Assembly elections in mid-2021.
It hoped to steal a march on rival Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by foraying early into the electoral arena.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would spearhead the campaign. He would commence a tour of Kerala on December 22 to consolidate the advantageous position of the LDF in the local body elections.
Mr. Vijayan would camp at district headquarters and interact with opinion leaders and a galaxy of persons emblematic of diverse sections of society. The LDF would use the input from the meetings to understand the development and social welfare aspirations of the people.
The information would form the LDF electioneering strategy.
The LDF also felt that social security benefits doled out to the public during the pandemic had helped it tide over the "calumnious and recriminatory campaign" unleashed by Opposition parties against the government.
Moreover, the voters had rewarded the LDF for the development work it had undertaken. The modernisation of Public Health Centres (PHCs), taluk and district hospitals and Government Medical Colleges had resonated among the masses.
So had the transformation of government schools to international public school standards. The LDF has decided to forge ahead with the developmental activities and social welfare measures in the run-up to the Assembly polls.
The meeting reportedly noted the inroads made by the BJP in urban areas. It also warily eyed the modest gains made by the SDPI and the WPI.
LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan said the people would forsake the politics of communal resentment promoted by the BJP and Islamist parties. They would opt for the development narrative of the LDF in the Assembly elections.
The KPCC had lost high ground because it had forsaken its secular platform. It rarely criticised the anti-people policies of the Central government.
It tip-toed around the controversies surrounding the BJP leadership warily. The Congress in Kerala had lost credibility by aligning with the Sangh Parivar and Islamist forces simultaneously.
The Congress risked seeing the BJP replace it as the main Opposition party in the State.
The IUML has embraced radical Islam. It would soon supersede and eclipse the Congress as the dominant party in what remains of the UDF. Muslim fundamentalism would encourage Hindu majoritarian politics in the State. The LDF would fight both.
Mr. Vijayaraghavan said Jose K. Mani's induction had helped the LDF. The coalition remained robust as ever. It had the strength to settle any dispute between allies amicably.
