Kochi Mayor M. Anilkumar has claimed that the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-led governing committee has further strengthened its hold on the Corporation Council going by its increased support in the voting to approve the Corporation Budget on Friday.
In the voting held by show of hands, Mr. Anilkumar told reporters that the LDF had the backing of 39 councillors against five of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which demanded the voting, while the entire United Democratic Front (UDF) contingent boycotted the voting dismissing the Budget as a hotchpotch exercise.
“Three years after coming into power with the support of 34 councillors in addition to the backing of the two independent councillors, our strength has now effectively increased to 39. This gives us more confidence in facing the Council with increased confidence for the future development works,” he said.
When pointed out that the Health Standing Committee chairman T.K. Asharaf had left before the voting, Mr. Anilkumar said even if that was the case, the LDF still had a comfortable majority of 38.
Mr. Anilkumar, however, was critical of the BJP’s insistence on a vote on the Budget, which he said was hardly the norm in the Corporation. Though left to his discretion whether to concede the demand for a vote, he said he allowed it since he was confident of prevailing and that he wanted to see the existing support base in his favour.
Mr. Anilkumar reiterated that the Opposition UDF’s “invasion” of the Mayor’s dais during the Budget presentation and its frequent boycotts were not in keeping with political decorum and hoped that UDF would do away with it.
In his reply to the debate on the Budget earlier in the Council, he had asked the UDF to introspect whether it was appropriate to invade the dais and forcibly take away the Budget book from Deputy Mayor K.A. Ansiya’s hand during her speech. He said that it could have led to far too serious situations and called for avoiding such “toxic atmosphere” in the Council.
“The UDF leadership should display more maturity and understanding in not taking politics beyond a point. The Budget was tabled by the Secretary while the Deputy Mayor only made a Budget speech, which is akin to the policy address by the Governor in the Assembly,” he said.
Illegal move: UDF
UDF councillor M.G. Aristotle, however, alleged that by giving a seat to the Deputy Mayor who failed in her obligations to prepare the Budget as the chairperson of the Finance Standing Committee by his side on the dais and insisting that she deliver the speech, the Mayor committed an “illegality”, leaving little option to the Opposition but to counter this with another illegality.
