TIRUNELVELI: The no-confidence motion moved against Tirunelveli Mayor PM Saravanan (DMK) has been dropped after councillors, including those from DMK who moved the motion, gave the meeting a miss on Friday.
Corporation Commissioner Shubham Dnyandeorao Thakare, who was supposed to convene the meeting, told reporters that another no-confidence motion cannot be moved for the next one year. “According to the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, the meeting was convened at Rajaji Mandapam at 11 am. No councillor arrived until 11.30 am. Since there is no quorum as per the Act, we did not conduct the meeting,” he said.
“Except for the mayor and his deputy, all other party councillors were given their ‘share of kickbacks’ by DMK functionaries. Only one CPM member was at his party office at the time of the meeting,” sources claimed. It may be noted that AIADMK district secretary Thachai Ganesaraja had told reporters a couple of weeks ago and said that all four AIADMK councillors would vote against Saravanan.
When contacted, Ganesaraja told TNIE that AIADMK councillors did not make it to the meeting hall in time, and had to return home. “I heard that all the 38 DMK councillors, who had moved the motion, had decided not to vote against and left for Madurai. Our councillors could have been frustrated,” he said. TNIE’s attempt to get a version of the DMK, AIADMK, and Congress councillors was in vain.