Thiruvananthapuram: As the traditional Christian vote bank started eroding from UDF as was evident in the local body election, AICC has taken the initiative to woo them back.
AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar and AICC secretary Evan D’Souza started meeting the church leaders in the state as part of this mission. On Tuesday, they met cardinal Mar Cleemis, archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and held discussions for almost an hour. The AICC leaders also met Joseph Mar Barnabas Episcopa of Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.
“This is just a courtesy call. It has been decided to meet all community leaders and in the coming days we will be meeting them. The meeting and discussion are to strengthen the ties with them,” said Anwar, after the meeting.
UDF received a setback in traditional vote banks in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta during local body polls due to a severe erosion in Christian votes. The alignment with Welfare Party and IUML’s stand on the reservation for the economically poor in the majority community, etc, are seen as the reasons behind this.
Meanwhile, the AICC leaders, who are in the state capital, are meeting senior party leaders and leaders of the party feeder organization as part of collecting opinions to strengthen the party before assembly elections.
Anwar had discussions with opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, former chief minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran.
Winnability alone will be the criterion for selecting candidates and no selection based on the group affiliation will be allowed, he is learnt to have told the state leaders. AICC has also decided to conduct a survey on the choice of candidates similar to the one conducted during the last Lok Sabha elections, in the party assembly seats. The survey will be conducted among booth-, mandalam- and district-level leaders and workers to find out their choices.