Thiruvananthapuram: The abstention by syndicate members K.S. Gopakumar of Congress and M.K. Abdul Rahim of Muslim League during the vote on the resolution over Law Academy is a setback to the UDF, which has been accusing CPM of shielding Lakshmi Nair. Based on KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran’s direction, KPCC general secretary P.M. Suresh Babu issued a show cause notice to Mr Gopakumar, who is also the Thiruvananthapuram DCC vice-president, on Sunday asking him to explain the reason for his abstention.
While CPI and Congress demanded the removal of Ms Nair from the post of principal, CPM wanted the syndicate to direct the management to take action saying that the university did not have the power to do so and if it took such a decision it could be challenged in the court. If the LDF were getting only eight votes, the votes of both the Congress and IUML members would have ensured a decision favourable to the UDF. Even though Mr Gopakumar abstained from voting it was difficult to take action against him as issuing whip for voting was not practised during syndicate meetings, unlike assembly sessions.
