CHENNAI: A resolution to provide government cars to standing committee chairmen was withheld by Mayor R Priya. This led to a heated exchange between the mayor and six chairmen, all belonging to the ruling party.
The standing committee chairmen had earlier petitioned Ministers KN Nehru and Udhayanidhi Stalin and Mayor R Priya for a new car for them to carry out their official duties. Following the question hour and zero hour discussions, tabled resolutions were taken up for passage.
Mayor R Priya withheld the resolution to provide cars to chairmen and cleared the other resolutions. Standing committee chairmen K Dhanasekaran (Accounts) and D Viswanathan (Education) objected to this. “Council has no precedence to withhold any resolution after tabling them,” K Dhanasekaran told the mayor.
Later, 15 zonal chairmen, all belonging to the ruling party, also demanded cars. “This needs government approval as it is a policy matter. The resolution is not abandoned, it is only temporarily withheld and will be taken up in the next meeting,” Mayor Priya told the council.