In a bid to woo back the agrarian electorate of Central Travancore ahead of the upcoming parliament elections, the Kerala Congress led by P.J. Joseph will campaign to highlight the crisis that has engulfed the State’s rubber plantations.
The regional party, a key constituent of the Congress -led United Democratic front, will take out a march from Kaduthuruthy to Kottayam to highlight the apathy of the Left Democratic Front government in raising the support price for the crop. Kerala Congress executive chairman Mons Joseph will lead the event.
In a statement, Mr. Joseph accused the LDF government of going back from its promise to raise the support price for natural rubber to ₹250. The march will also highlight the farmers’ demand to the Union government for raising it further to ₹300.
The Kerala Congress factions have been on an overdrive to reach out to the distressed farmers of the region even since the Catholic Church decided to co-opt the farmers’ cause. In March this year, the Church even openly criticised these parties for doing nothing to check the `sense of dread’ that had engulfed Kerala’s rubber plantations.
Despite multiple demands by the KC(M), a constituent of the LDF, the State government has held back a hike in floor prices till now, catching the regional party off its guard on more than one occasion. The issue assumes a political dimension in the central Travancore region including Kottayam where a bulk of the rubber plantations and farmers are concentrated.
