Left Front launches confidence rebuilding exercise in Kerala, Vijayan to assess progress of govt programmes

Kerala’s CPM-led Left Democratic Front government, which is apparently smarting under a humiliating Assembly bypoll defeat and barrage of allegations, has initiated its public outreach programmes to rebuild people's confidence, ahead of the next Lok Sabha and local body polls.

As part of this, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday kicked off a four-part regional review meeting to assess the progress of various government programmes as well as law and order situations. The first meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on the day reviewed the programmes in three districts. The chief minister asked the officials to avoid delays in implementing government programmes. The other meetings will be held on September 28, October 3 and 5.

The chief minister will also spearhead constituency-level public outreach programmes to be organised in November and December. It will cover all the 140 Assembly constituencies. A week-long 'Keraleeyam' event, showcasing the government's achievements over the years, will be held on the occasion of the state formation day of November 1.

Even though the government sought the cooperation of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front, it said it would boycott the events. It slammed the LDF for conducting review meetings using public money and alleged that the meetings were nothing but the Left Front's election propaganda, with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the local body polls.

In recent times, the Left Front government in the state has been confronted with a series of allegations related to the implementation of major projects, such as Artificial Intelligence-enabled traffic offence detection systems. Personal attacks against the Chief Minister's family have also tarnished the government's image. Other things that have come to haunt the government include law and order issues, including crimes against women and children, and besides alleged involvement of CPM leaders in cooperative bank scams.

Meanwhile, the CPM has come to face criticisms from within the Left Front as well. A meeting of CPI state leadership recently expressed their displeasure over the government's performance.

It is against this backdrop that the Pinarayi Vijayan government has presumably decided to conduct public outreach programmes to regain public confidence in the ruling dispensation.