UDF councillors’ protest continues in Kozhikode Corporation
Ruling LDF asked to take up adjournment motion
KOZHIKODE: The UDF councillors continued their day-and-night protest in the Kozhikode Corporation for the second consecutive day on Saturday.
They said unless the LDF-led ruling front discussed the adjournment motion tabled by councillor Mohammed Ali or called a special council meeting to discuss the same issues raised in the motion, they would continue with the protest. Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan and UDF chairman Sankaran met the protesters and expressed their solidarity.
“The council did not even read the adjournment motion. It could have read it and dismissed it. How can the LDF members say that it is not an adjournment motion without reading it in the council? We will continue our protest till our demands are met,” said Vidya Balakrishnan, UDF councillor.
Around 31 councillors belonging to the UDF sat inside the council hall throughout Friday night and Saturday demanding a discussion on the adjournment motion.
They said the dismissal of the motion by the Mayor was arbitrary and due to political pressure. Mayor A.K. Premajam said that she was ready to hold a meeting with the Opposition councillors.
“They have not contacted me yet. I am ready to hold talks with them but they need to change their agenda. The adjournment motion tabled by councillor Mohammed Ali cannot be included in the definition of an adjournment motion. He had raised several issues pertaining to Public Works Department in his motion and that is not allowed. An adjournment motion can only discuss one issue and that is why we did not allow it to be taken up in the council,” the Mayor said.
The UDF councillors also shot down a suggestion by the ruling front that a special council meeting could be called before September 14 to discuss the developmental issues.
“How can we agree to that? These are the issues that we raised in our motion and now they say a special council meeting could be called. If a meeting has to be called, it has to be exclusively dedicated to the issues raised in our motion,” Vidya Balakrishnan said.