BJP councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation holding on to the Mayor’s chair as police personnel attempt to remove them from the dais during a council meeting on Monday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Dramatic scenes played out in a council meeting of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation on Monday as the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led opposition levelled corruption allegations against each other, leading to scuffles and prolonged protests. While the LDF reiterated its allegations against BJP councillors P.V. Manju and G.S. Asha Nath, the BJP accused favouritism in the inclusion of an LDF councillor’s name in the list for appointment of sanitation workers.
Women councillors of the BJP occupied the Mayor’s dais much before the beginning of the council meeting in the afternoon. The BJP councillors held placards demanding the resignation of the Mayor. Meanwhile, the LDF councillors also began sloganeering, holding placards demanding the resignation of the two councillors accused of corruption. The tense standoff continued for about half an hour, after which police personnel removed the women councillors of the BJP from the Mayor’s dais, despite stiff resistance from the BJP.
After the dais was cleared, Mayor Arya Rajendran took her seat and attempted to start the council meeting, but the remaining BJP councillors held a banner blocking the Mayor’s view. Two Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] councillors tore away the banner leading to a scuffle between both sides. The agendas related to the various standing committees were read out and the meeting concluded amid the sloganeering.
Sanitation workers appointment
The BJP had alleged that the ruling LDF had slyly incorporated the name of Kazhakuttam councillor L.S. Kavitha and a few of the party’s favourites in the appointment list for the sanitation workers. It further alleged that the appointment process was delayed for an year to ensure that the councillor’s resignation to take up her job will not trigger a byelection.
Health Standing Committee chairperson Gayathri Babu said that the Employment Exchange had provided the list of 671 prospective candidates to fill the 56 vacancies for sanitation workers. The councillor’s name was also part of the list as she had registered with the Employment Exchange years ago. A total of 403 people from the list participated in the interview. Out of them, 363 people participated in the physical tests. The Corporation has now approved a finalised list of 348 candidates, from which appointments will be made later. The list was prepared by following all reservation norms.
Later, addressing a press conference, LDF parliamentary party leader D.R. Anil said that the BJP has levelled baseless allegations and unleashed violence in the council meeting to divert attention from the corruption allegations against two of its councillors. In the 2015-2020 period too, one of the councillors had secured a job as a contingent worker through a transparent process after registering through the Employment Exchange, he said.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) alleged in a press release that the differences over dividing the posts of sanitation workers between the LDF and the BJP led to the scuffles witnessed in the council.
BJP councillor P.V. Manju of the Punnakkamugal ward is accused of aiding a coverup in the alleged misappropriation of around ₹3 lakh collected by the local Haritha Karma Sena (HKS) unit as user fee from households in the ward. The other allegation was against Pappanamcode councillor G.S. Asha Nath, whom the LDF accused of collecting money from beneficiaries for providing the Corporation’s application forms for various schemes.
Published – July 14, 2025 08:09 pm IST
