The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised a protest in front of the city Corporation on Tuesday accusing Mayor Arya Rajendran of skipping a development seminar of the civic body to participate in a CPI(M) event.
However, Ms. Rajendran refuted these allegations.
She posted a notice on Facebook of the said meeting on February 6, which indicated that it was a general body meeting of working groups ahead of the preparation of the People’s Plan for the year.
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BJP’s allegations
Inaugurating the protest meeting, BJP district president and Corporation councillor V.V. Rajesh accused the Mayor of deceiving the city’s public by not taking part in a meeting for the city’s development.
Mr. Rajesh accused senior CPI(M) leaders of pulling the levers of power in the Corporation from behind.
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Mayor clarifies
Ms. Rajendran, in her Facebook post, said that the development standing committee was the organiser of the meeting.
The Mayor said that she skipped the said meeting because she had to take part in a training programme that was organised by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) as well as an organisational event.
The Deputy Mayor, who was supposed to chair the meeting in her absence, could not do so because of ill health.
Yet, the meeting went ahead as per schedule and the Mayor was apprised of the proceedings as soon as she was back in office, said the post.
Preliminary meetings
She said that this was one of the preliminary meetings ahead of the development seminar, which would be organised soon on a bigger scale.
Ms. Rajendran, in her Facebook post, also accused the parties opposition of wilfully misleading the public through such allegations against her.