BJP brought together councillors of UDF and allies of CPM in a protest gathering held on Wednesday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the first time on Wednesday, the BJP managed to accomplish what it had dreamt of during the last four years; to isolate CPM albeit temporarily. It brought together councillors of UDF and allies of CPM in a protest gathering held on Wednesday in the wake of remarks by leftist staff union leader P Suresh against councillors.

Trouble had begun following the council meeting held on Saturday in which Palayam Rajan, chairman of town planning committee, and CPI councillor Solomon Vettucaud made strong remarks against a few corporation employees.

Rajan told the council as to how a clerk posted in social welfare pension section had denied processing of application for an old age pension demanding election ID card although state government had mandated either aadhaar or ration card for the same.

Rajan demanded that the clerk be replaced by a mature staff in the section, as applicants for pension need to be dealt in a humane way.

Vettucaud had talked about lapses in tax revision and apathy of staff in issuing ownership certificate. BJP councillor M R Gopan also came up with another complaint that corporation staff colluded with a contractor to collect additional amount as rent from those who booked a marriage auditorium at Nemom.

In response, P Suresh, general secretary of Kerala municipal and corporation staff union, convened a random staff meeting in front of the corporation office on Monday and lambasted the councillors who had raised complaints against the staff in the council meeting. He reportedly called the ruling council an inept one and alleged that councillors are corrupt and they take money from applicants to process applications. Even the ongoing multi-level parking project in corporation campus was cited as an instance of blunder on the part of the ruling council.

The protest gathering on Wednesday saw all the councillors launch a collective and acerbic verbal assault on Suresh, levelling a series of allegations including demanding bribe, immoral conduct and delay in processing files. CPM councillors stayed off the protest meeting and all the councillors collectively demanded that Suresh be summoned to the council meeting and be subjected to censure as per provisions of the Municipality Act.

Palayam Rajan said that Suresh, who had earlier worked as PA to former mayor K Chandrika, had often led her to trouble. “He was the reason why she was isolated from the public. He is a danger to the staff union. Such immature and inefficient people have to be removed,” said Rajan.

