The discontent between two warring factions of the Congress in the Thrikkakara Municipality took a new turn on Thursday with the ouster of Public Works Committee Permanent Chairperson Ajitha Thankappan from the post.
According to officials, Ms. Thankappan, a Congress (I) group councillor, was removed from the post following a no-confidence motion brought by the Congress (A) group councillors. Of the seven members in the public works committee, four councillors voted in favour of the motion, discussed in the presence of Regional Joint Director Sasidharan Nair, while the remaining chose to abstain from voting.
Commenting on the issue, Congress (A) group leader and former municipal chairman P.A. Mohammed Ali said that the motion was moved as the Congress (I) group continued to ignore the party leadership’s directive to handover the post to their group.
“Despite three letters from the KPCC, they held the post illegally for the last seven months, violating a power-sharing agreement struck in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy last year,” he said.
It was under the same agreement that Mr. Ali stepped down December last year to hand over the post to Shaji Vazhakkala, the leader of (I) group councillors.
The (I) group councillors, however, alleged that the (A) group councillors had violated the KPCC’s directive not to move the motion. “We have approached the KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran seeking Mr. Ali’s expulsion from the party membership,” said Mr. Vazhakkala, the municipal chairman. The (I) group held a protest march to the Municipality office demanding resignation of Mr. Mohammed Ali.
Meanwhile, (A) group leaders said that they also contemplated on moving a no-confidence motion against municipal chairman Mr. Vazhakkala. “The chairman, who has lost the majority support, should now resign or we will be forced to move a motion against him as well,” they said.
