A faux pas allegedly committed by the former Congress Legislator A. John Kumar in the monthly calendar to highlight the New Year 2017 took the residents of Nellithope constituency by surprise and left the party redfaced.
The monthly calendar brought by Mr. Kumar contains his name with the designation as MLA and Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy.
Mr. Kumar is no longer an MLA since he quit the post on September 15 this year to make way for Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy to become an MLA.
It is hardly possible for the public to forget the by-election held on November 19 to fill the vacancy caused by his resignation. The monthly calendar has come out much to the bewilderment of the party as well as the residents.
When contacted Mr. John Kumar took the defence that 15,000 calendars were printed in July this year when he was an MLA. Normally, calendars for the New Year would be printed months in advance. “However, the calendars were released with some corrections describing as ex-MLA after I quit the post three months ago,” he said.
Mr. Kumar said that he had asked party men to ensure that corrections were added with his name while distributing them among the residents. But a section of people who were seeking to tarnish his image had distributed the calendars without the correction, he said.
Meanwhile, the opposition AIADMK has registered its protest over the issue. AIADMK Legislature party leader A. Anbalagan has called upon the Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi to immediately seek an explanation from Mr. Narayanasamy over the issue.
“This act of Mr. Kumar is wrong and will cause one to hang our heads in shame. He has been attending all government functions associating with the Chief Minister although he is not an MLA,” Mr. Anbalagan said.
