A meeting of the Kozhikode Corporation Council on Wednesday had all the ingredients of the goings-on in the State Assembly and Parliament these days.
Heated exchanges between the ruling members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the opposition Congress-Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) resulted in a ruckus at the meeting. Allegations and counter-allegations between the members led to opposition members staging a walkout and later boycotting the entire proceedings.
As the council assembled for deliberations in the afternoon, Leader of the Opposition K.C. Shobitha wanted to adopt a resolution against the police collecting penalties from citizens in the name of enforcing the COVID-19 protocol. She said that the police were employing excessive force during the lockdown. However, Mayor Beena Philip refused to entertain the calling attention motion, stating that it did not merit an emergency consideration.
Ms. Shobitha was supported by K. Moideen Koya(IUML), M.C. Sudhamani and S.K. Aboobacker (Congress). However the Mayor did not yield to the pressure tactics and disallowed the motion. Deputy Mayor C.P. Musaffir Ahamed said the opposition was raising the resolution as it was unable to gauge the real issues affecting the citizens. UDF councillors staged a walkout against what they alleged was the Left councillors making disparaging remarks about UDF-independent councillor K. Nirmala representing Panniyankara division.
While deliberating on an issue in the council, LDF councillors had alleged that Ms. Nirmala was sheltering migrant workers in the Kannanchery G.L.P. School and that she was interfering with the vaccination drive at Panniyankara. In protest, the UDF councillors boycotted the council proceeding and took out a march outside the council hall.
Previously, the council saw a noisy exchange between the ruling and opposition councillors over awarding an advance grant of ₹15 lakh to Niravu Vengeri for waste management services in the city. However, the agenda was adopted by the council though it was opposed by the numerically weak UDF as well as BJP members.
