Ahead of Kerala assembly polls, CPM launches house visit campaign

T'puram: In the aftermath of LSG poll setback, CPM kickstarted its house visit campaign which it conceived as a statewide public reach-out programme. The CPM plan, launched just ahead of the upcoming assembly election, follows LDF's decision to interact with people and register their feedback on govt's performance. CPI too has launched a week-long home visit campaign to win back public confidence.CPM general secretary M A Baby, who visited some homes along with party functionaries on Thursday, said the initiative received a positive response. "Home visits were conceived as a programme to listen to what people have to say, including critical comments. My experience was awesome. People are not only opening up but are ready to give a patient hearing to what we have to say," he said.PWD minister Mohamed Riyas, who took part in this initiative in Kozhikode, said govt was reaching out to the public to understand whether it had overlooked some areas and to know what more activities people expect from the govt.CPM ministers and party functionaries will hear people patiently during the visits and will not argue with them. They will try to convince people that CPM and govt were not anti-religious or anti-Muslim. They will explain that CPM's criticism against fundamentalist forces like Jamaat-e-Islami was not an attack on the Muslim community. They will also take questions on Sabarimala gold heist and explain that CPM did not act against former TDB chief A Padmakumar because the allegations against him were not proven in court.Responding to reporters, Baby said rumours about KC(M) shifting allegiance to UDF lost steam after KC(M) chairman Jose K Mani refuted them. He said CPM will take action against Padmakumar if he is found guilty in the Sabarimala gold heist case. Baby said CPM has clarity on the stand to be taken in the case. He said UDF was focusing only on parody songs. "Such activities created confusion among some people. We can clear this with an explanation," he said.Potty got more than her due: BabyBaby also rejected former Kottarakara MLA Aisha Potty's claim that CPM had treated her badly. "Aisha Potty got significant media traction when she joined the Congress. CPM had nurtured her. The party gave her an opportunity to become district president and MLA three times. Her decision to leave CPM will not have an impact even in Kottarakara, where she won on a party ticket. Thousands of people, who went to jail and got tortured, never got an opportunity to contest elections," he said, adding that people like Potty should understand that political work was not always centred on power and posts.Meanwhile, CPM state secretary M V Govindan said Potty was power-hungry. "She was regularly irregular at party events. When asked, she used to cite physical discomfort as the reason. Now, we know what was the reason for that discomfort. It is the discomfort to get the crumbs of power," he said, while inaugurating a Lok Bhavan march by rural employment guarantee scheme workers.