Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

LDF allies stake claim to key posts in council

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The minor partners of the ruling coalition in the City Corporation council are stepping up pressure on the LDF leadership for a mid-term power shuffle in the standing committees.

The Janata Dal and the RSP have staked claim to the post of chairman of the standing committee on Town Planning, currently held by R. Satheeshkumar of the Kerala Congress (Joseph). The Congress(S) is gunning for the chairmanship of the committee on Taxes and Appeals, a post occupied by NCP nominee K. Maheswaran Nair.

The three parties have submitted their representations to the LDF parliamentary party and the district committee.

The Janata Dal and RSP maintain that their demand is based on a post-poll understanding to share the chairmanship of the Town Planning committee. They claim that the Kerala Congress(J) and Janata Dal had agreed to two years of tenure each, leaving one year for the RSP.

The Janata Dal nominee is likely to be the party floor leader, P. Harikumar, who represents the Jagathy ward. Both Mr. Harikumar and RSP councillor M.S. Sobhita, representing the Manacaud ward, are members of the Town Planning committee. While the Kerala Congress(J) and JD have three members each, the RSP has one.

Mr. Harikumar said the JD expected a smooth transfer of power by the end of the month when the standing committees completed two years. The RSP, however, maintains that it is entitled to the second term. It points out that the nomination of a woman to the post would help correct the gender imbalance in the selection of members to the chairmanship.

The Kerala Congress(J) maintains that there was no formal power-sharing agreement.

“We will abide by the decision of the LDF district committee,” said Mr. Satheeshkumar. He, however, pointed out that the LDF had turned down a demand from the RSP for a mid-term replacement of the NCP nominee Palayam Rajan who was heading the Town Planning committee in the previous council. The NCP had retained the chairmanship for the full term of five years.

The Congress(S) meanwhile is manoeuvring itself into a position to head the Taxes committee if the State unit of the NCP decides to return to the Congress(I) and withdraw support to the LDF. The only hitch in the Congress(S) plan is that the party’s councillor Palayam Rajan is not in the Taxes committee.

Mr. Rajan said his party’s claim to the chairmanship was part of a State-wide policy on seeking a greater role in democratically-elected bodies.

Mayor C. Jayan Babu said it was up to the district committee of the LDF to take a decision on the claims raised by the coalition partners. “The council can only go by the committee’s directions,” he said.

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