As mainstream political parties are still engaged in hectic parleys to finalise their nominees for the April 10 Lok Sabha polls in the State, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has launched its electioneering in the Kasaragod Lok Sabha segment.
The AAP has fielded Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan, convener of the Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani (EPJM), which has been in the forefront of a series of agitations to highlight the complex issues faced by the cash-strapped hundreds of endosulfan victims and their families. The AAP formally launched its campaign from Chengala panchayat on Wednesday after visiting the house of 24-year-old Haseena, a bedridden woman who is yet to find her name in the official list of endosulfan victims to enjoy free medical treatment.
Haseena had spent her childhood in Periye panchayat, one of the 11 localities where the pesticide was aerially sprayed in the State-owned cashew estates of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK). However, her family shifted to Chengala panchayat, thereby facing the obstacle in including her name in the official list despite having crippling physical deformities
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Mr. Kunhikrishnan said our main aim was to highlight the failure on the part of successive governments led by the Congress and the CPI(M) to effectively put in place a mechanism for the comprehensive relief and rehabilitation packages to mitigate the plight of the victims facing serious health problems.
“We are planning to expose the neglect meted out to northern Kerala and hope that the AAP will manage to solicit support from all sections of society and impartial voters who had supported these two formations in the past,” Mr. Kunhikrishnan said. “As part of checking pollution, we have decided to act as a role model for other political parties by disbanding the use of plastic materials, including flex boards, during electioneering and instead would opt for clothes and papers to spread our messages,” he said.