The United Democratic Front (UDF) lost power in the Changanassery municipality after the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Thursday successfully moved a no-confidence motion against chairperson Sandhya Manoj.
The no-confidence motion received 19 votes including those by two Congress councillors and an Independent who had earlier sided with the ruling coalition. The UDF and the BJP abstained from the proceedings.
Though the district Congress leadership had issued a whip to its members in the civic body, two Congress members, Raju Chacko of Ward 17 and Babu Thomas of Ward 33, took part in the proceedings. Independent member Beena Joby, who was supposed to take over the chairperson’s post as per a power-sharing agreement in the UDF, also voted in favour of the motion.
In the 37-member Council, the UDF had enjoyed the support of 18 members including three Independents while the LDF has 16 members. The remaining three members belonged to the BJP.
As per an understanding within the UDF shortly after the local body elections in December 2020, Ms. Manoj, also an Independent member, was supposed to hold the post for 20 months till August 28, 2022, before handing it over to Ms. Joby. Ms. Joby, in turn, would have handed over power to Shiny Shaji, a Congress councillor. Ms. Manoj, however, refused to step down on the expiry of her term, triggering an infighting within the UDF. Cashing in on the situation, the LDF moved the motion and pulled down the ruling coalition from power.
The development on Thursday, meanwhile, laid bare the raging dispute within the Congress with a couple of its members coming out in the open against the leadership. In a social media post, Raju Kelammattu, a Congress councillor, accused the party leadership of failing its workers.
“The leaders who cheated Beena Joby by delaying the power-sharing agreement for over ten months maintained an arrogant attitude towards the Congress councillors even at the time of the motion,” he wrote.
Party sources, meanwhile, also accused the leadership of unnecessarily provoking the Independents by circulating the party whip through various chat groups.
