THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a breather for the BJP-led Thiruvananthapuram corporation, the LDF has decided not to join hands with the UDF in the no-confidence move for now. CPM Thiruvananthapuram district secretary V Joy said that despite making a few hollow remarks that the Congress would initiate the no-confidence motion, the UDF has not made any formal communication.
Clarifying that the party has not yet taken any decision to support the UDF’s no-confidence motion attempt, Joy said that the party’s higher bodies would decide on the same.
“A no-confidence motion can be brought only once in six months, which should be supported by at least one-third of the members. As neither LDF nor UDF have that count, and no formal communication was made with us from the other end, this should be suspected as a Congress move to indirectly support the BJP,” he told TNIE.
Discarding the UDF move as a ‘hollow’ attempt, Joy also said that the front would move forward with strong protests in the coming days.
However, UDF parliamentary party leader K S Sabarinathan criticised the apparent back-off by LDF as part of a CPM-BJP deal. He said, “Our stance is to initiate discussions about such a move, but I don’t think the LDF will team up with us on this,” he said.
Clarifying that the front will not formally move for the motion due to low numbers to meet the minimum councillor count, the Congress leader also claimed that the UDF held more protests than the LDF in the last six months, which were aimed at addressing people’s real issues, rather than creating a ruckus.
Meanwhile, Mayor V V Rajesh said the BJP does not have any issue with the opposition parties moving forward with the motion. “Our party has faced countless such motions, and we have our national, state and district-level leadership to advice on how to politically and legally face the same,” he said.
With LDF and UDF launching protests against BJP, dramatic scenes are expected to unfold at the corporation office on Monday.
