The Hindu : Mayor's bid to mollify UDF

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 07, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Mayor's bid to mollify UDF

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM March 6. The ugly incidents in the Corporation headquarters on Wednesday threatened to spill out on to the streets of the city today with the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF taking out separate marches to the Corporation office. Both the fronts have announced plans to intensify their agitation.

LDF leaders fear that a patch-up would not be easy at this stage given the hostile mood of the Opposition but the Mayor, J. Chandra, is confident of tackling the fresh outbreak of hostilities. She maintains that the acrimony would be only a temporary setback to the political equations in the council.

In a bid to soothe frayed tempers, the Mayor today had a telephonic conversation with the UDF parliamentary party leader, K. Maheswaran Nair, who had been admitted to hospital with injuries sustained in the clash on Wednesday. She said an all-party meeting would be convened soon to sort out the political issues and bring the situation back to normality. There are reports that a special council would be convened to discuss and settle the contentious issues.

Prof. Chandra denied the UDF allegation that she had abetted the black flag demonstration by DYFI volunteers against the Local Administration Minister, Cherkalam Abdullah, at a public function on Monday. She said the abrupt action against her by the UDF councillors was unwarranted. "Why should the UDF councillors rake up the issue when the Minister has no complaint?'' she asked.

The Mayor said the UDF action was prompted by the intense factional rivalry within the Congress. She expressed confidence that the incidents would not affect the budget preparation exercise.

With the rival political fronts gearing up do battle, the Corporation budget presentation and debate scheduled for the month-end are likely to be a stormy affair. There are indications that hardliners in the LDF council party would oppose the Mayor's bid to mollify the UDF leadership.

On Thursday, the LDF councillors staged a sit-in on the verandah of the Corporation office to protest the attack on the Mayor. The deputy mayor, Sujanapriyan, inaugurated the dharna. Simultaneously, the UDF district committee organised a protest rally to the Corporation headquarters. The march was stopped at the gates of the office by a strong posse. The UDF workers squatted on the road raising slogans. The KPCC general secretary, T. Saratchandra Prasad, the DCC general secretaries, Ebby George and George Mercier, and the Thampanoor councillor, Satheesh, addressed the dharna.The UDF workers participating in the protest held up a picture of Mahatma Gandhi, which they claimed was vandalised by LDF councillors who had encroached into their council party office in the Corporation. The UDF leaders later lodged a complaint with the Museum police demanding action against those responsible for tearing up the picture. They alleged that the Mayor had issued orders winding up the UDF councillors' facility as a retaliatory measure.

Denying the charge, the Mayor's office clarified that the UDF councillors had only been asked to share the room with the LDF members because of space constraints following the work on the computerisation project.

Meanwhile, the Mayor today submitted a memorandum to the DGP urging him to take legal action against the UDF councillors who detained her in the office room for over an hour.

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