The raging feud between the two factions of the Congress parliamentary party in Thrikkakara municipality appears to have abated for the time being.
On Saturday, the ruling party succeeded - in its second attempt, to elect its consensus candidate Ajitha Thankappan as permanent Chairperson of the Municipal Public Works Committee. Her election serves as a major relief to the party leadership, which has been working to iron out the differences between the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups.
According to officials, returning officer K.A. Varghese, Deputy Collector of Land Acquisition declared Ms.Thankappan as the winner on the ground that she was the only candidate to file the nomination to the post. Earlier in July, an attempt by the Congress to get the same person elected to the post had failed due as the nomination was not filed within the time period stipulated by the Election Commission.
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Following this, PS Radhamani, another Congress councillor in the seven-member committee, was declared as the Chairperson. She, however, submitted her resignation immediately to pave the way for another round of election. Commenting on the election, PA Mohammed Ali, leader of the ‘A’ group councillors, said the nomination of Ms.Thankappan to the post followed a direction from the KPCC hi-level committee. “The compromise deal by the KPCC also stipulates the present “Municipal Chairman to hand over the post to the A group for the last one year’’, he said.