THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After two days of debates, the LDF that rules the City Corporation with a slim majority, passed its first full budget with the UDF abstaining from voting. The opposition BJP opposed the budget saying the draft budget figures were inflated and demanded that the budget be passed only after it was put to a vote.
The councillors of the Congress led-UDF walked out abstaining from the vote. This led to criticism from BJP leader Giri Kumar that the walk-out was pre-planned and the UDF was hand in glove with the LDF. The 42-member LDF camp supported the budget whereas the 34-member BJP opposition opposed the draft budget which was passed with ease.
The 21-member UDF camp which had been lashing out against the budget during discussion sessions on Saturday and Monday tore the copy and threw it on the floor ahead of voting and walked out. They chose to abstain from voting against it along with the BJP. The Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar was caught off guard many times as rival camps pointed out the anomaly in revenue figures and the unrealistic spending plan. The budget projected a surplus of Rs 32.91 crore and banked heavily on funds that are expected to come from state and central governments.
