Unfazed by the grim political challenges awaiting the Congress-led UDF in the Lok Sabha polls, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has been criss crossing the state with his 'Mass Contact Programme' by directly engaging with people, mostly the less privileged, and pulling crowds.
The second phase of the unique outreach campaign, which won the UN award for public service in July, has already seen Chandy meeting hundreds in four districts and the exercise is to be completed by the year-end covering the remaining 10 districts.
After a brief hospitalisation for injuries he suffered in the stone-pelting allegedly by LDF workers during a visit to politically-volatile Kannur recently, 70-year-old Chandy resumed the Jana Samparka Paripadi (JSP) at Malappuram and Pathanamthitta districts this month, spending over 20 hours at a stretch in each place.
The LDF opposition, however, terms the programme as a "populist stunt" at the best and a "mere political gimmick" at the worst.
LDF leaders have argued that this kind of an exercise would only erode the efficacy of the grass-root level administration and local bodies and the whole personality- centred exercise was conceived as a short cut to deflect public attention from the failures of the" scam-tainted government" and the infighting in the Congress in the state.
While continuing its boycott of Chandy over the solar scam, the LDF has refrained from disrupting the programme.
According to Chandy, the thrust of the campaign is to bridge the gap between the people and the government by removing the menace of "red tape" which comes in the way of just and speedy delivery of services. The experience gained from the campaign would be factored in to update official rules and procedures for better governance.
