KOCHI: The District Congress Committee (DCC) has seemingly landed in trouble over its decision to effect a major reshuffle in Kochi Corporation ahead of removing the Mayor Soumini Jain. Though Town Planning standing committee chairperson Shiny Mathew, who is being considered for the top post, and Tax Appeal committee chairperson K V P Krishna Kumar have resigned from their respective posts, Welfare committee chairperson A B Sabu and Development committee chairperson Gracy Joseph have decided to go against the DCC’s diktat seeking their resignation.
Now, with the Election Commission planning to hold elections for the standing committee member and chairperson posts by December 15, the DCC has just 10 days to complete its action plan for a reshuffle. “At present, vacancies of members have been reported in the tax appeal, finance and town planning committees.
As per information, election of the committee members will be held on December 10, while the election of chairpersons will be held by December 15,” said a source in the DCC. “If Sabu and Gracy refuse to resign by December 10, DCC will not be able to field its candidate for the post. This will also intensify the feud within the party ranks,” said the source.
Seven councillors have expressed solidarity with the Sabu, Gracy as well as Soumini Jain. Women councillors Geetha Prabhakar (independent) and UDF’s Jose Mary are also firm on their previous stand.
“They will resign from their post if the DCC removes Soumini Jain. Some councillors are planning to express their displeasure with DCC in the elections. If DCC fails to find a solution to end the feud, Congress will lose its majority in the council,” said an ‘I’ group leader.