VELLORE: Vellore Corporation on Tuesday passed a special resolution condemning the verdict against former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa at the council meeting here.
A total of 57 councillors, including 17 DMK Councilllors, took part in the council meeting chaired by Mayor P Karthiyayini, of the AIAMDK. The Mayor read out the special resolution against the verdict which included a statement that DMK chief M Karunanidhi, DMK senior leader K Anbazhagan and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy falsely implicated Jayalalithaa in the case.
Surprisingly, the DMK councillors remained silent despite the resolution passed against their party leaders and termed them as “Kayavarkkal”. The council has also passed 107 other resolutions without debate over the subjects.
After passing the resolution, the AIADMK councillors walked out of the meeting at 11.40 am and held a demonstration at the premises of the Corporation. They raised slogans against the DMK leaders and BJP leaders and burnt their effigies.
The AIADMK councillors came in black shirts and sarees to register their protest against the verdict.
When a few of the DMK councillors raised some civic issues related to water scarcity and market to the Mayor and Commissioner Janaki Raveendran, the Mayor also walked out of the meeting hall.
R Sathiyamoorthy, councillor of ward 37, who led the DMK councillors, said, “We condemn the resolution passed against the verdict. The ruling party councillors are misusing their power. Council meet is to discuss public grievances, but the AIADMK members don’t know their responsibilities.”
Mayor Karthiyayini, in an official statement issued later in the day, stated that they had removed the names of the DMK and BJP leaders, which had been mentioned in the special resolution. “We removed the names mentioned in the special resolution and corrected it,” said the Mayor.
The corrected resolution stated that it was brought by the Mayor. It further said that the council felt a need to express its anguish against the verdict, which had put Jayalalithaa behind bars and had slapped a fine.