After much deliberation in both the district and the State committees, the CPI(M) has chosen Thottathil Raveendran for the Kozhikode Mayor’s post.
The election to the post will be held at the city corporation council at 11 a.m. on Thursday. It was necessitated after V.K.C. Mammed Koya stepped down following his election to the Assembly from Beypore constituency last month. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will also put up their candidates. In the 75-member council, the LDF has 48 members, UDF 20 and BJP 7. The party had a difficult time to decide on several contenders including former Mayor M.M. Padmavathi, CPI(M) councillors M. Radhakrishnan and K.V. Baburaj. A few CPI(M) leaders had also pushed the candidature of T.V. Lalitha Prabha, a first-time councillor and wife of T.P. Dasan, former Mayor.
CPI(M) district secretary P. Mohanan said Mr. Raveendran was chosen considering his wealth of experience as Deputy Mayor (1995-2000) and Mayor (2000-2005). He had also been a former chairman of the Guruvayur Devaswom Board.
Clean image
Known for his clean image, the party fielded him from Chakkorathukulam ward in the November 2015 polls when the Left coalition faced anti-incumbency in the civic polls. Surmounting all odds, Mr. Raveendran squeaked home on a margin of 34 votes.
It was during Mr. Raveendran’s tenure the civic body implemented the model solid waste management in the city and initiated the process of implementing the multi-crore projects funded by the Asian Development Bank. Mr. Raveendran told The Hindu that his immediate priority would be to step up sanitation works and check waterlogging during the monsoon. “Infrastructure development, solid waste management and traffic congestions are the other issues that need to be addressed” he said.
