Women councillors fire fresh salvo at Mayor, Congress leadership

Just as it appeared that the clamour within the party for her removal has finally died down, six women councillors from the Congress on Saturday fired a fresh salvo opening a new front in the fight, which, it seems, is not just against Mayor Soumini Jain but the party leadership as well.

In a show of defiance, councillors V.K. Minimol, R. Shameena, Malini Biju, Shakritha Sureshbabu, Gracy Babu Jacob, and Delina Pinheiro issued a joint media statement expressing their dissatisfaction over the state of affairs in the governance of the Kochi Corporation.

They demanded the party leadership to effect wholesale changes and bring about a new governing committee by replacing not just the Mayor but all standing committee chairpersons as well at the earliest.

“The party leadership had decided all the positions in the Kochi Corporation and we unanimously accepted it. We were forced into this move (public statement) following misleading media reports to the effect that only the Mayor was to be replaced,” the statement said. They claimed that a decision to change all committee chairpersons, including the Mayor, half way through the term had been recorded in the minutes of the parliamentary party meeting. The women councillors’ claim effectively shot down the argument by a section of the party leadership that there was no such decision for a change of guard midway through.

When the decision was brought to the notice of the Mayor after two-and-a-half-years, it was learnt that she had sought time till the marriage of her daughter. It dragged on for another one-and-a-half-year citing the Chengannur by-election, deluge and the Parliament election. “Despite the prevailing circumstances, we complied with the party leadership’s direction and defeated the Opposition’s no-trust motion,” the statement said.

Ms. Minimol told

The Hindu that while the Mayor had the support of just seven or eight councillors, the majority were against her.