TIRUNELVELI
Like the shepherd protecting his herd in the pen from the blood-thirsty carnivores pouncing suddenly from the jungle, 35 newly-elected councillors of the ruling DMK were whisked away to an undisclosed destination in Kerala minutes after they took the oath on Wednesday in a bid to ‘protect’ them from those who can ‘poach’ them for getting the Mayor or Deputy Mayor post of the urban civic body.
Ever since they got elected, these 35 of the 44 DMK councillors are being protected for reasons best known to everyone – to avert ‘horse-trading’ for getting the mayor or the deputy mayor posts by a few within the party who enjoy money, muscle and community power. After getting elected as councillors on February 22 after the end of the counting of votes, these members of Tirunelveli Corporation council were taken to Kanniyakumari minutes after they received their ‘winner’s certificate’ from the Returning Officer at the Government College of Engineering in Palayamkottai where the votes polled in the Corporation wards were counted.
After spending the night in a luxury hotel in Kanniyakumari, they were taken to a resort in Poovar near Thiruvananthapuram from where they returned to Palayamkottai only a few hours before they were administered the oath by the Corporation Commissioner B. Vishnu Chandran.
On reaching a hotel on the South Bypass Road on Wednesday morning, the councilors who were taken on a pleasure trip to Kerala, left for the Corporation in five air-conditioned vans, which were escorted by as many cars. Once the vans reached the Corporation premises for the oath taking ceremony, those who were escorting the vans in cars, got down with a paper carrying the names of the councilors travelling in each van.
After allowing the councillors to go one by one to the council hall for the ceremony, the escorts and the vans were tensely waiting for their ‘esteemed guests’. Once the ceremony was over, the councillors, who were brought to the council hall in the vans from the hotel, were stuffed in the air-conditioned vehicles again even as the police were protecting them.
Only after the escorts cross-checked the names of the councilors, who boarded the vans, the vehicles left the Corporation premises for an undisclosed destination in the Kollam district of Kerala.
“They will return to the Corporation premises again on Friday (March 4) to cast their votes in the indirect election to be held for electing the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. Until then, they will be under the protection of our men,” said a DMK office-bearer here. He refused to reveal the identity of the ‘poachers’.
The Alangulam town panchayat in Tenkasi district, having 15 wards, too witnessed similar drama after the councillors assumed office on Wednesday. The council now has 4 AIADMK members and the DMK has bagged only 3 wards while the ally, Congress, won a ward. Since the AIADMK contested the election with DMDK backing, the Vijayakanth-led party’s two members are likely to support the AIADMK.
Interestingly, 5 independent candidates have been elected to the council to become ‘deciding factor’. Consequently, both the DMK and the AIADMK are making all-out efforts to lure the independents with a range of tall promises.
Those who responded positively were taken on a tour to various places along with their families and the pleasure trip was suspended as the independent councilors had to assume office on Wednesday. Once the swearing ceremony was over, they were stuffed in a few cars to continue their holidaying in an undisclosed destination till Friday (March 4) the day on which they will elect their chairman and deputy chairman.
