Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Mayor elected unopposed

Special Correspondent

DMK's N. Karthik sworn in Deputy Mayor

TAKING CHARGE: Rural Industries Minister-designate Pongalur N. Palanisamy (second from left) hands over the sceptre to R. Venkatachalam (second from right) who was sworn in Mayor on Saturday. The Nilgiris MP, R. Prabhu (left), and Corporation Commiss ioner P. Muthuveeran (right) look on. (Right) C. R. Ramachandran of the DMK who was elected president of the District Panchayat being greeted by Collector Neeraj Mittal at the Collectorate. - PHOTOS: S. SIVA SARAVANAN and M. Periasamy

COIMBATORE: R. Venkatachalam of the Congress was elected unopposed as the Mayor of Coimbatore on Thursday, setting at rest speculations that the Bharatiya Janata Party's lone councillor might contest for the post. In the afternoon, DMK councillor from Ward 16, N. Karthik, was sworn in Deputy Mayor after being elected unopposed.

All the 10 councillors of the AIADMKm and the BJP member abstained from both the elections and the swearing-in. But, both the Councillors of its ally, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, were present at the swearing-in of the Mayor. The Corporation said that both of them were not present for the Deputy Mayor's election.

Mr. Venkatachalam was sworn-in by Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran amid an atmosphere that sought to emphasise a significant gain for the Congress in the civic body despite its numerical strength of only eight in the 72-member Council.

The 65-year-old Congress member with two stints as councillor since 1996 took the oath wearing a red robe - a new one for the new Mayor. It was black for the earlier two Mayors. Rural Industries Minister-designate Pongalur N. Palanisamy handed over the silver sceptre to the Mayor, as if symbolising the DMK's gesture of giving the post to the Congress as part of the alliance pact.

Immediately, councillors presented shawls to Mr. Venkatachalam, congratulating him for his being elected to the post. Besides Mr. Palanisamy, Nilgiris MP R. Prabhu, Coimbatore MP K. Subbarayan, former Congress MLAs V.K. Lakshmanan and S. Maheshwari, former DMK MP (Rajya Sabha) K.R. Subbaiyan and former Leader of the Opposition in the Council K.P. Jagannathan, were present at the swearing-in.

Congress cadre burst crackers soon after the swearing-in.

Mr. Venkatachalam, a staunch supporter of Mr. Prabhu, triggered a loud round of applause from the supporters gathered outside when he thanked the MP for the mayorship in his speech after being sworn-in.

Mr. Venkatachalam thanked Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Karunanidhi and Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin for the mayorship. When about to leave the hall, other members pointed out that Independent councillor N. Kamalaveni could not present him with a shawl on the stage as she had suffered a fracture in the leg.

The Mayor walked up to her seat and received the shawl.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Mayor vows to prevent fund misuse
Mayor elected unopposed
Call to amend Pharmacy Act
Sniffer and tracker dogs steal the show
Change in BSNL telephone numbers
World Food Day celebrated
Intel chairman to visit India in November
Coimbatore Mayor elected unopposed
Coimbatore to have convention centre
Suspected blast case accused held
IFS officer passes away
Around the City
In Coimbatore Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu