The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Kalamassery municipal chief quits

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Kalamassery municipal chief quits

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, NOV. 16. The chairman of Kalamassery Municipality, Jamal Manakkadan, resigned on Tuesday ending the tussle between him and the Congress leadership in the State over the last four months.

Mr. Manakkadan handed over his resignation letter at a 2-15 p.m. to the Municipal Secretary, N. Vijayakumar.

Mr. Manakkadan told The Hindu that he was resigning in deference to the wishes of the KPCC chief Thennala Balakrishna Pillai. The Congress Council Party will elect the new chairman of the municipality, he said.

The Municipal Secretary informed the State Election Commission of Mr. Manakkadan's resignation in the afternoon itself. The Secretary said that the Election Commission would now notify a date for the election of the new chairman. The process is likely to be completed within three weeks, he said.

The vice-chairman of the municipality, I. M. Abdul Rahman, will be in-charge of the municipal affairs until a new chairman is elected.

The term of the current ruling council, under the United Democratic Front, ends in September next year.

Council party meet

The Congress Chief Whip and former chairman, N.K. Pavithran, said that a delegation of Congress leaders had requested the District Congress Committee to convene the council party meeting to elect the new chief.

A section of the Congress councillors have, however, demanded that M.B. Prakash, chairman of the Standing Committee on Development be made the new chairman as per an agreement within the party in March 2003.

According to the agreement, Mr. Manakkadan was to have stepped down in June this year. However, attempts by the party leadership to persuade Mr. Manakkadan to step down failed repeatedly. He demanded that if he quit, the chairmanship should pass to a man who was elected by the Congress Council Party. In a council of 33, the United Democratic Front has 18 councillors, including five of the Muslim League. The CPI(M) has nine councillors and the EMS Patana Kendram has three. There are also three councillors who won seats to the council as rebels within the UDF.

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