The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Rival groups spar over resolutions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 01, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Rival groups spar over resolutions

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, MAY 31. The Coimbatore Corporation Council witnessed curious moments when two sections of Councillors - one belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the other belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Demorcratic Progressive Alliance vied with each other to congratulate their leadership on different "achievements".

Well before the start of the meet, the Congress MLA from Coimbatore East, V.K. Lakshmanan, distributed sweets near the Council hall to celebrate the formation of the Congress-led Government at the Centre. Soon, the Councillors belonging to the DPA parties also distributed sweets inside the hall.

When the Mayor, T. Malaravan, assumed the Chair, the DPA parties' members, led by the leader of the Opposition and DMK member, K.P. Jagannathan, and the Congress party leader in the Council, "Colony" R. Venkatachalam, approached him with a resolution congratulating Manmohan Singh on assuming charge as Prime Minister.

The Mayor, who represents the AIADMK, had his party's cards also ready. After reading out the resolution, the Mayor followed it up with another that took the Opposition by surprise.

The second one hailed the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, for restoration of free power to farmers, lifting of the ban on religious conversions, withdrawal of cases against Opposition leaders and media organisations and also scrapping the H card (ration cards) system.

The Opposition reacted by saying that the Government announcement was only the fallout of the defeat in the elections. "These are not concessions but a change of mind brought about by the election results," Mr. Jagannathan and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member, M. Krishnaswamy, said.

The Communist Party of India's R. Devaraj said, "The 39/39 verdict in favour of the DPA was a reflection of the people's opinion of the Government. While the Government has to respect it at least from now, we still welcome the announcements made by the Chief Minister."

Realising that any further exchange over this issue might turn ugly, the Mayor quickly announced the start of the Question Hour.

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