Ernakulam district Congress party leadership, which met with chairperson of the Thrikkakara Municipality Ajitha Thankappan and chairpersons of the standing committees in the municipal council on Tuesday, has virtually given a clean chit to the chairperson in connection with the allegations that the chairperson had paid ₹10,000 each to the 43 councillors in municipal council.
The Congress party is of the opinion that the allegation was politically motivated, party sources said.
Vice president of the Congress party in the district Mohammed Shiyas was among those who met the municipal chairperson and others on Tuesday at the DCC office as part of the inquiry instituted by the party district leadership into the allegations.
Congress party sources said the effort was to find the facts behind the allegations and to establish whether there was a case against the municipal chairperson. Though there was a talk of the Congress party leadership questioning 16 other party councillors in the municipal council, no hearing was held on Wednesday, party sources added.
A report on the basis of inquiry is expected to be submitted to the district party leadership. The party had said earlier that stringent action would be taken against those involved if any wrongdoing was detected. The municipal chairperson had denied the allegations and called them a ploy by the Opposition Left Democratic Front.
The Opposition had, in the meanwhile, demanded that CCTV footage allegedly revealing the payment of money to councillors be protected. They had submitted a complaint before the municipal secretary and the police alleging there was a plot to erase the visuals.
M.K. Chandrababu of the CPI(M), Opposition leader, was among those who have sought a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau investigation into the allegation.
Meanwhile, V.D. Suresh, Congress member in the council, said he stood firm in his accusation that the municipal chairperson had paid money to the councillors. He said he had conveyed his opinion to the party leadership.
