THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ramesh Chennithala will embark on a ‘Kerala yatra’ from Kasaragod on February 1 to mark the launch of UDF’s campaign for the assembly election.
The yatra will cover all 140 constituencies and leaders of various constituents of the front including P K Kunhalikutty, M K Muneer, P J Joseph, Anoop Jacob, N K Premachandran and G Devarajan will accompany the opposition leader.
Former chief minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran will also be part of the event.
Monday’s UDF meeting in Thiruvananthapuram gave the go-ahead for the yatra. It decided that all senior leaders should take part in the yatra, which will be an opportunity to expose the anti-people policies of the LDF government, as well as the corruption charges it faces.
The issues for the assembly election will be different from those raised during local-body polls. UDF will expose the state government and its unfulfilled promises in the coming days, said Chennithala.
While announcing the plan, the opposition leader said UDF has also decided to appoint a committee headed by Benny Behannan MP to prepare the front’s manifesto for the assembly election.
UDF has been meeting several community leaders over the past days and addressing concerns about some if its policies. We assured them of putting all their fears to rest soon, the Congress leader said.
There has been no discussion on including more political parties to the front as no one has approached us. “There are reports that a few leaders have shown interest in joining the front. But no formal request has been made,’’ he said. P C George and P C Thomas have expressed the desire to work with UDF in the assembly election.
On taking in NCP, Chennithala said the party is still part of LDF. We will take a decision if NCP leaves that front and express its interest in joining UDF. However, we have decided to start talks with constituent partners on seat sharing for the election, he added.