The District Congress Committee (DCC) has achieved a breakthrough in the crisis that gripped the district panchayat over the allocation of funds ahead of a meeting of the panchayat committee on Wednesday.
Congress and Socialist Janata (Democratic) (SJ-D) councillors met at the initiative of the DCC on Tuesday and decided to solve all issues pertaining to allocation of funds through talks.
District panchayat vice president Rufus Daniel of the SJ(D), which had threatened to withdraw support, said issues regarding allocation of funds for specific schemes and selection of wards for implementation of projects would be sorted through talks.
Terming the meeting ‘very cordial and positive,’ he said projects for each ward would be decided after eliciting the views of the ward representatives.
District panchayat president Ansajitha Ressal said talks would continue and the immediate task was to roll out welfare schemes which were stalled following the crisis.
Annual PlanThe rift in the ruling front and the displeasure of the SJ(D) came out in the open at a monthly meeting of the panchayat held on August 2. At the meeting, works standing committee chairman Malayinkeezhu Venugopal openly expressed his displeasure with the style of functioning of Ms. Ressel, especially in finalising the annual Plan. He submitted a representation to the District Collector urging him to quash the approval given to the annual plan.
A similar demand was raised by the SJ(D) and last week the State committee of the party had authorised the party district committee to take appropriate decisions if the Congress leadership did not accede to its demands in the district panchayat.