Soumini Jain to step down; Shiny likely to be next Kochi mayor
KOCHI: Mayor Soumini Jain will step down by the end of this month and the new mayor is likely to take charge in the first week of January, said a DCC source.
“A letter has been sent to Soumini asking her to resign before January 5. She has accepted it and expressed her willingness to resign by the end of this month. If all goes as per plan, former Town Planning Committee Chairperson Shiny Mathew will be the new mayor,” said the source.
Sources said DCC was emboldened to unseat Soumini after the Welfare Standing Committee Chairman A B Sabu too resigned and Development Committee Chairperson Gracy Joseph expressed her willingness to resign on Friday. Including Sabu, a total of three Congress standing committee chairpersons have resigned now. Others who resigned earlier were Shiny and Tax Appeal Committee Chairman KVP Krishna Kumar.
The DCC leadership has discussed the resignation of Gracy with her.
“Since Gracy is handling the development committee, several projects are on the verge of implementation. She has sought around 15 days to resign. Before the standing committee election she will step down,” said the source.
Sabu, a staunch supporter of the mayor, had changed his loyalties from Congress ‘A’ group to ‘I’ group. He submitted his resignation to Corporation Deputy Secretary Chandran Nair. Though Sabu, along with others, turned down the DCC directive to step down from the post earlier, a discussion with Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan, MLA, changed his mind.
Soumini could not be contacted for comments.