THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stepping up agitations against the UDF Government in the state and BJP Government at the Centre, the Left Front has begun its four-day-long agitation and public campaigns. The massive campaigns ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections are being organised across the state raising four major issues - corruption, communalism, mismanagement and price hike.
“The protest campaigns and agitation would cover all the Assembly constituencies in the state. We have already raised the issue of communalism by Sangh Parivar organisations and the UDF Government’s soft stand towards it. Another major area is corruption. There’s rampant corruption in the state. A public meeting is scheduled at the state headquarters for Tuesday. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan will inaugurate it,” said LDF convener Vaikom Viswan.
The Left Front has already launched agitation against the Oommeen Chandy-led government in the bar bribery scam and solar case. Ever since Kerala Congress (M) leader K M Mani resigned as Finance Minister, the Opposition has been training its guns on Excise Minister K Babu. Meanwhile, Left agitations in the solar scam against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is also on. The recently concluded winter session of the state Assembly had witnessed major agitations in the bar bribery scam.
Issues of mismanagement and price hike have also been taken as focus areas for the Left campaigns. As part of taking up people’s issues ahead of the elections, the Left Front has zeroed in on price hike. Though the Union Government is primarily responsible for price hike, the Congress-led state government has ‘failed to ensure effective market intervention to arrest price hike through government agencies like Consumerfed and Supplyco.’