COIMBATORE: Mayor S M Velusamy submitted his resignation letter to Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner G Latha hours after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa removed him from the post of Urban District Secretary on Tuesday night.
Velusamy’s resignation will be officially tabled when the Corporation council meets at 10 am on Friday.
“Mayor’s resignation will be placed at the Corporation Council meeting and subsequently will be sent to the Municipal Administration department after members adopt a resolution on Friday. After this, it will be decided if an election has to be conducted for the post,” said G Latha, Commissioner of Coimbatore Corporation.
“On Friday, the resignation letter will be handed over to the Deputy Mayor S Leelavathy Unni, who will execute the works of the mayor, till the next appointment is made,” she added.
Sources said that an election might be conducted within a couple of months for the post, if his resignation was accepted. The election would be conducted for Coimbatore along with Tirunelvi and Tuticorin district Mayoral posts. The election for the post of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin Mayors has been necessitated as Vigila Sathyanand and L Sasikala Pushpa have become Rajya Sabha members.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa sacked Velusamy from his Urban District Secretary post owing to his poor performance in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections in Coimbatore.
The party candidate AP Nagarajan won with a margin of 42,016 votes against BJP candidate C P Radhakrishnan in Coimbatore constituency in the recently concluded elections. Coimbatore is the only constituency where the party won with a low margin when compared to the other 36 constituencies in the State.
Velusamy’s removal was not unexpected. The mayor’s autocratic attitude towards the councillors and Corporation officials in the past three years is also said to be one of the reasons for his sacking. More than 10 AIADMK councillors, who were up in arms against the mayor’s high-handedness, attempted to meet Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa last year and seek his removal. The councillors conveyed their grievances to State ministers.
The other major reason cited by those in Velusamy camp was that he resigned as his official vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run case at Palladam in Tirupur district on Tuesday. Velusamy was returning from a village after thanking voters for Lok sabha elections when his vehicle rammed a two-wheeler. A 30-year-old youth named Chandrasekar was injured in the mishap. However, Velusamy left the place soon after the accident, to attend the City Corporation South Zone meeting. He left the place after instructing his supporters to take care of the injured. This information was also passed on to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa through the intelligence wing.
Municipal administration and rural development minister S P Velumani will assume additional charge and take over the post of Urban District Secretary. The party supremo recently ordered Velumani to take over the post of rural district secretary replacing former Agriculture Minister S Damodaran.
