THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Councillors belonging to the BJP and the ruling LDF clashed with each other at the corporation office during the council meeting held on Friday. The opposition, which has been protesting against Mayor Arya Rajendran in connection with the letter row, demanded that she should not preside over the council meeting in view of the allegations against her.
The mayor suspended nine female BJP councillors in connection with the ruckus. Following this, the BJP councillors staged a hunger strike at the council hall. The BJP and UDF have been protesting at the corporation office for the past one-and-a-half months.
The council meeting was scheduled for 2.30pm. When the bell rang for the meeting, the BJP woman councillors rushed to the dais and lay down there to prevent the mayor from entering the dais. However, the mayor and corporation secretary Binu Francis, who turned up after 15 minutes, could enter the dais, passing over the councillors who were lying on the floor, with the help of LDF woman councillors and the police.
Despite the presence of police at the spot, the protesting councillors managed to lie down on the dais, and they had a scuffle with the police. In the meantime, the UDF councillors also had a heated argument with the police after they were stopped from entering the Well of the council hall. Later the meeting started with the mayor presenting the agenda. Soon, the UDF and BJP councillors continued their protest by entering the mayor’s dais with banners and boards. BJP’s protesters held aloft a banner, hiding the mayor and the secretary.
Meanwhile, the mayor managed to pass the items on the agenda despite the protests and slogans raised by BJP and UDF councillors. The tension heated up after works standing committee chairman, D R Anil, tried to destroy the banners. This led to a clash between UDF and LDF councillors. The police intervened to stop the councillors from attacking each other. With this, the women councillors lined up in front of the mayor with a banner stating, “Mayor go back”. The women police personnel tried to move them, but after the councillors strongly resisted, they retreated.
Meanwhile, when the Museum police led by the SI tried to remove the banner, there was a scuffle between the BJP male councillors and the police. The meeting ended by 3.40pm, and the mayor suspended nine women BJP councillors in connection with the tension. The mayor directed the police to arrest and remove them, but the police refused.
Those who were suspended had signed the attendance book during the protest. The police exercised restraint because arresting and removing them would have led to more conflict. D R Anil soon informed the councillors that they had signed the attendance register to receive the money for attending the meeting and that they could do other work for money. In protest against the mayor’s action and Anil’s remarks, the BJP councillors staged a sit-in at the council hall. However, the police arrested the 20 BJP councillors by 10.45pm.
CPM WILL HAVE TO BEND ITS KNEES: BJP
CPM will have to bend its knees in front of the protest by the BJP, party district president V V Rajesh said here on Friday. In a statement, Rajesh said that the agitation would spread to more areas in the coming days. The BJP accused the CPM and the state government of being unwilling to take action despite the government’s conviction that there is fraud and corruption in the corporation. He also said that legal action should be taken against D R Anil, who has been abusive towards the BJP’s female councillors participating in anti-corruption campaigns in the corporation.