Uncertainty looms over the presentation of the annual Budget of the Kochi Corporation with the Communist Party of India (CPI), which heads the Finance Committee, refusing to undertake the statutory responsibility of presenting the Budget on February 6 over a power-sharing dispute. The crisis has evolved as a major embarrassment to the LDF-led committee in the council.
In the event of the Deputy Mayor refusing to present the Budget before the date, the Mayor will have to ask the Corporation Secretary to present it, failing which the council will have to demit office, according to a civic administrator.
Time has almost run out for K.A. Ansiya, a CPI councillor and Deputy Mayor, to convene a meeting of the Finance Committee to get the Budget approved before presenting it in the council. The Deputy Mayor can present the Budget only after the State Budget is presented by the Finance Minister in the Assembly. The State Budget is scheduled to be presented in the Assembly on Monday.
