The second day of the council meeting convened to discuss the budget ended within 15 minutes after UDF councillors shouted slogans and stepped to the centre of the hall to protest against “a lacklustre budget.”
As soon as the council met on Wednesday, Mayor K. Chandrika read out a resolution to condole the death of Kathakali maestro Ramankutty Nair and then invited Deputy Mayor G. Happykumar to speak. Immediately, the UDF councillors were on their feet raising slogans against the ruling LDF.
The BJP members displayed a banner requesting UDF and LDF councillors to keep their ‘bitter politics’ outside the precincts of the Corporation. Though the BJP members took to their seats after the brief protest, the UDF councillors continued their slogan-shouting.
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When the Mayor adjourned the session after declaring the budget passed, the UDF councillors staged a dharna in front of the Corporation building and burnt a copy of the budget.
Leader of the UDF council party Johnson Joseph said that the ruling front had failed to implement schemes announced in the last budget. Even the amount allocated by the Centre and State governments remained unutilised.
On the incident that occurred during budget debate on Tuesday, he said the scuffle and throwing of sandals were the result of provocative language used by the LDF councillors during the discussion.
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