Leave to jailed BJP councillor continues to roil Thiruvananthapuram Corporation council

The leave granted to jailed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor R.Sugathan continues to roil the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation council.

At a special council meeting convened on Wednesday to approve spillover projects, the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) opposed the sanctioning of leave as soon as Mayor V.V.Rajesh read out the list of absentees. Mr.Sugathan was arrested under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA) and is currently lodged at the high-security correctional facility at Viyyur Central Prison in Thrissur in Kerala

With the Home department withdrawing a letter that enabled the Mayor to grant six months leave to jailed Mr.Sugathan in the last council meeting on July 31, the Opposition has questioned the validity of the council decision. The Home Department later withdrew the letter dated July 20 and signed by an under secretary on behalf of the Additional Chief Secretary, which was sent to Mr. Sugathan in response to his request for an escort parole to take part in the council meeting on July 31.

As the letter stands withdrawn, the Opposition argued that Mayor’s decision to grant leave also no longer holds. LDF Parliamentary Party leader S.P.Deepak said that the LDF has already approached the Corporation Secretary and the State Election Commission pointing out the illegality of granting leave.

“The Mayor is running the council in an undemocratic manner. The minutes of the council meeting are not provided on time and even when they are provided, the events are recorded wrongly. For instance, in the minutes of the last council meeting, it is written that the Mayor sought the opinion of the Opposition, while the visuals clearly show that the Mayor asked the microphone operators to cut off our microphones,” he said.

Even as the other LDF councillors attempted to raise the issue of the jailed councillor, the Mayor said that only opinions related to the agenda items be raised. In a replay of the previous meeting, the Mayor directed the microphone operators to provide the microphone only to those who are responding to the agenda items.

Congress councillor Thampanoor Harikumar said that the council meetings are held hardly once in a month now and the hundreds of pages of agenda items are provided only at the last minute, leaving the councillors no time to study and raise issues. He said that the copy of the council meeting minutes are not provided even when demanded.

When Mayor Rajesh said that he was not provided the minutes when he was the councillor in the last five years, LDF councillor Shajitha Nazar said that Mr.Rajesh took part in hardly three council meetings when he was a councillor.

The council meeting soon ended within thirty minutes like recent council meetings even as the Opposition continued to raise the issue of the jailed councillor. Later, the LDF announced that it will boycott the official Onam celebrations of the Corporation in protest against the undemocratic attitude of the Mayor.