The melee among ruling and opposition councillors has put the proposals for the 12th Five-Year Plan of the Angamaly municipality in jeopardy.
Seven ruling councillors from the UDF and 12 opposition councillors of the LDF had come to blows in the cabin of the municipal secretary on Monday over the cancellation of a special council meeting scheduled for the day.
The municipality was expected to submit the data entry for the plan proposals on Wednesday, the approval for which was expected by December 10. The government had made it clear that no approval will be granted to proposals after the cut-off date. It was to keep with this deadline that a special council meeting was called for Monday.
Municipal chairman C.K. Varghese, however, was confident that the proposals will be submitted and clearance obtained before December 10. The ruling front had claimed that the chairman was indisposed and cited it as the reason for cancelling the special council meeting.
Mr. Varghese, however, was candid enough to admit that the absence of a solution to the intra-party issues that saw seven ruling councillors staying away from the last two council meetings had forced the cancellation of the meeting.
The parliamentary party meeting held on Sunday to resolve the issue had proved inconclusive.
“The issue will be resolved at the parliamentary party meeting to be held on Wednesday. The special council meeting will be held on December 6 or 7,” he said.
Municipal secretary M.C. John was also hopeful that the government would provide some concession in the case of the municipality, as the failure to submit the proposals before Wednesday was not owing to official negligence but due to political reasons.
The municipality has drawn up plan fund proposals worth about Rs. 5 crore. The political skirmishes had also delayed the development seminar, which was eventually held on November 15.
The dirty political fight that tarnished the image of the municipality witnessed the sorry state of councillors exchanging blows and abuses. The secretary had to call for the police to separate the warring councillors. Torn dress and files and broken telephones stood testimony to the melee.
The municipality had witnessed similar scenes in August last year when a similar fight broke out between the ruling and opposition benches during the presentation of the annual budget.
In the 30-member council, the ruling UDF has 18 members to the opposition LDF’s 12 members.
