COIMBATORE: The DMK selecting the new-comer R Ranganayaki as the mayor candidate has not gone down well with many party councillors. They expressed their dissatisfaction for not giving the post to the ardent workers serving the party for decades.
One of the councillors, Shanthi Murugan broke down and questioned the decision of the ministers during a meeting, chaired by ministers KN Nehru and S Muthusamy, on Tuesday ahead of the mayor election. When many councillors were seen pacifying her, some others tried to stop her from talking. A video of the councillor’s agony has gone viral on social media.
“We have worked hard and have suffered a lot for the party for 50 years. We have lost crores of rupees and we have been shunned continuously. We cannot tolerate all this,” Shanti said in the meeting with tears rolling down her cheeks. Minister KN Nehru pacified and asked her to sit down. Even after the meeting ended, Shanthi was seen expressing her distress.
Nehru told them, “I’m standing here as a minister. The chief minister asked me how much funds have been allocated for roads in Coimbatore. I said we have allocated `100 crore. The CM said `100 crore would not be enough and asked me to allocate `300 crore, and now it has been allocated. Works are being carried out. Completing all the works, which have been suspended for a decade, in just two years is impossible. Now that you have said it, we will do it.”
Earlier, CCMC’s Central Zone chairperson who was expected to be given the mayor ticket was also denied an opportunity which led her to burst out in tears after the meeting with the ministers on Monday.