Kerala - Kochi   

LDF urged to sort out crisis in Corporation

KOCHI: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) district committee has sought the intervention of the State LDF leadership to solve the crisis in the Kochi Corporation regarding the reshuffling of various standing committees.

The LDF district meeting held last week had ended in a stalemate over the reported stand of the CPI that all the standing committees of the corporation including the finance standing committee should be reshuffled among the LDF constituents.

The finance standing committee chairman C.K. Manisankar, a CPI(M) nominee, is the Deputy Mayor of the Kochi Corporation. The CPI, which has three members in the council, is heading the town planning standing committee and its nominee E.M. Sunilkumar is the chairman of the committee.

The discussions were initiated in the district unit of the LDF as the council had reached half-way of its five-year term. According to the constituents of the LDF, there was an understanding that the standing committees of the corporation will be reshuffled once it completes the first half of the five-year term.

The CPI had earlier demanded the Deputy Mayor post considering the fact that the party was the second largest constituent in the Kochi Corporation. The party gave up the demand when it was pointed out that the Mayor was a new face in Corporation system and she needed the backup of the Deputy Mayor, who should be an experienced hand. Since Mr. Manisankar was a senior member who could back the Mayor properly, the CPI withdrew its claim, said CPI sources.

If the LDF is thinking of reshuffling the standing committees, the post of the Deputy Mayor should also be considered for the process, CPI leaders said.

At the same time, the CPI(M) leadership was adamant on the stand that there was an agreement in the LDF that the party would hold the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts for a full five-year term. The agreement in the LDF was that the other standing committees would be reshuffled and allotted to the Front partners, a CPI(M) leader said. Pointing to the recent developments in the Kollam Corporation where the CPI councillors resigned their posts including that of the Deputy Mayor and decided to sit in the Opposition, a CPI leader said the party councillors would prefer to sit in the Opposition bench in Kochi also.

It was the constituents of the LDF that decided to seek the intervention of the State leadership to sort out the issue, said a CPI (M) leader.

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