THRISSUR: CPI Thrissur district secretary, K K Valsaraj, on Monday sought the resignation of Thrissur Mayor M K Varghese, criticising him for openly supporting central minister Suresh Gopi of BJP.
Speaking to reporters here, Valsaraj said that the Mayor had crossed the limits in his continued support of Suresh Gopi and the BJP politics.
A couple of days back, the Mayor had made statements praising Suresh Gopi for his vision for Thrissur. Suresh Gopi also appreciated the Mayor for his dedication towards the development of Thrissur.
After Suresh Gopi won the Lok Sabha seat in Thrissur, CPI came out against the Mayor, alleging that his open support for the actor-turned-politician was one of the factors that led to the defeat of its candidate V S Sunilkumar in Thrissur.
Valsaraj also urged Varghese to step down on his own from the Mayor's post and extend support to the candidate suggested by the LDF. CPM, which leads the LDF, however, did not give much heed to the CPI's criticism.
Varghese, a Congress rebel, became the Thrissur Mayor with the LDF’s support after the last local body polls did not give a decisive victory for both the Congress-led UDF and the CPM-led LDF. Varghese was made Mayor for 2.5 years and CPI's counsellor should have succeeded him. Since CPI couldn't nominate a name due to internal conflicts, the LDF decided to allow Varghese to continue as the Mayor. With only one year left for the next local body elections, CPM is not very keen to remove Varghese from the post.
Meanwhile, the Mayor said he was not aware of the CPI's demand for his resignation.