Postpone council meet: TMC

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, JULY 15. The next DMK-TMC confrontation in the Chennai Corporation is over convening the ordinary council meet this month.

The Chennai Mayor, Mr. M.K. Stalin, and the Corporation Commissioner, Mr. J.T. Acharyulu, who have been at loggerheads ever since the latter entered Ripon Building, had decided that the meeting be convened for July 20.

Notwithstanding the stand-off between the Mayor and the Commissioner, which had brought the functioning of the civic body to a virtual standstill, the two agreed on the ``mutually acceptable date'' since there was no conflict on this issue.

But today, the Leader of the Opposition in the Council, Mr. P. Vetrivel, said that when the date was fixed, the Mayor was ``fully aware'' that the Tamil Maanila Congress had organised a celebration in memory of the former Chief Minister, Kamaraj, for that day in Tiruchi.

``The TMC announced this last week itself. Despite this, the Mayor has decided that the Council meet should be conducted on that day itself. This clearly shows that the Mayor and the DMK are afraid of facing us,'' he said.

The TMC leader demanded that the meet be postponed. ``The moment I heard of the meet on Friday, I wrote to the Mayor and asked him to cancel the meeting. Since the public announcement was not made, it was possible to cancel or postpone the meet. But there has been no response from the Mayor,'' he added.

The DMK was not inclined to accommodate requests from an Opposition which believed only in confrontation, a party spokesperson said. A reply to the Government showcause notice asking why the Council should not be superseded was unlikely to be taken up for discussion.

This was because though the Mayor had written to the Municipal Administration and the Water Supply department Secretary, asking for a copy of the complaint which Mr. Acharyulu had sent her, the Secretary was yet to reply. ``Only after the receipt of the complaint copy can we frame a reply,'' he added.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : There was a plot to kill me: Karunanidhi
Next     : Need to discuss with PM: Karunanidhi