Notwithstanding the settlement reached between two of its warring factions, there seems to be no end to the woes of the Congress parliamentary party in Thrikkakara municipality.
On Wednesday, an attempt by the ruling party to nominate its consensus candidate as Public Works Committee Permanent chairperson failed to materialise owing to a technical slip-up. The development came as a major setback to the party leadership, which had been in the process of resolving the feud between the A and I groups.
The drama unfolded in the morning when P.A. Mohammed Ali, the leader of A group councillors, nominated Ajitha Thankappan as the Congress candidate to the post, which was seconded by Joy Varkey, another councillor from the same party. The proposal, however, was turned down by K.A. Varghese, the Deputy Collector of Land Acquisition, who was the returning officer, on the ground that the candidate had not filed her nomination papers.
Protests Amid protests from the Congress councillors, the official also declared P.S. Radhamani, another Congress councillor in the seven member committee, as the chairperson.
Ms. Radhamani, however, submitted her resignation soon after her selection to pave way for another round of election. Commenting on the issue, municipal officials said Kerala Municipality Act (Standing Committee rules) had a provision for selecting a senior councillor as the chairperson in the absence of candidates.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ali said the nomination of Ms.Thankappan to the post followed a direction from the KPCC high-level committee and that her name would be proposed during the next round of election as well.
