The apparent last council meeting of the Corporation, which is likely to go to polls in October, witnessed pandemonium on Wednesday after Mayor E. Bhuvaneshwari aired her views with a political overtone.
After reading out a few resolutions thanking Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as usual, Ms. Bhuvaneshwari announced that ‘Amma Taxi,’ which would collect Rs. 2 less than other cab operators per km, would be introduced at the new bus stand. The Mayor, after listing out development works after she assumed office two years ago, said all works were executed in an “unbiased manner” and hence the AIADMK would register a resounding victory in the civic polls. When she said former Minister and Palayamkottai MLA T.P.M. Mohideen Khan’s name figured in the list of below poverty line families, DMK councillors rushed towards her seat and picked up a heated argument with her.
When Ms. Bhuvaneshwari shouted that the DMK would bite the dust in the election as they were disrupting the smooth functioning of State Assembly and Corporation council meetings, the DMK members raised slogans against the Mayor.
The commotion resurfaced later while AIADMK councillors were raising a few civic problems. Ms. Bhuvaneshwari said she was serving the public without any fear though cases had been foisted against her in the past two years. As the Mayor made this reference while councillors were only raising civic issues, it led to a heated argument between her and AIADMK member Ganesan.
When Congress councillor T.N. Umapathi Sivan complained about erratic supply of drinking water, poor maintenance of streetlights and deteriorating law and order situation in the city, AIADMK councillors opposed it vehemently and Ms. Bhuvaneshwari, on her part, asked Mr. Umapathi Sivan to leave the hall. But the Congress member refused to leave the hall and picked up a heated argument with her when she dragged Cauvery water dispute and uttered Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s name. “It is the DMK-Congress combine which is preventing Karnataka from releasing Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu,” Ms. Bhuvaneshwari said and triggered another round of chaos. Even before it could subside, she left the hall.
