Politics should be based on ideology, not violence: Chandy

Politics should be practiced on ideology and not by indulging in violence, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Tuesday.

Chandy was speaking after launching State Congress president V.M. Sudheeran's statewide 'Janapaksha Yatra' at the northern tip of the state here. The 'yatra' will pass through all the 140 assembly constituencies and conclude in the state capital Dec 9 in the presence of AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"The major objective of the yatra is to propagate the message of peaceful living. Politics is not meant to decimate political rivals using violence but it should work for the upliftment of the people. The CPI-M and the BJP here fail to desist from indulging in violence. Politics should be fought on ideology and not by using weapons," said Chandy.

Sudheeran said that throughout the 'yatra' he will raise the issue of politics of murder being practiced by the BJP and the CPI-M.

"People in Kerala are peace loving and are fed up of the politics of murder. My yatra would emphasise this aspect. Another issue would be to spread the message of the need for an anti-substance campaign with the slogan of 'Clean Campus, Safe Campus'," said Sudheeran who added that he would also speak on achieving self sufficiency in vegetable production by starting kitchen gardens in all homes.

"On Oct 2nd , we launched this campaign at our state party headquarters...," added Sudheeran.

Present on the occasion was the entire top leadership of the Congress party in the state and also three Congress ministers from Karnataka.