The Left Democratic Front (LDF) lost power in the Vembayam grama panchayat with the no-confidence motion moved by the United Democratic Front (UDF) members getting passed on Saturday.
The Vembayam grama panchayat has 21 members, with 10 belonging to the LDF, 8 from the Congress, 2 from the BJP and 1 member from the SDPI. Members of the LDF were occupying the posts of president and vice president.
On Saturday, the UDF moved no confidence motions against both the president and vice president, accusing the LDF of administrative failure. “Even after one-and-a-half years, the panchayat has not been able to get any project moving. Ninety per cent of the planned projects are yet to take off. During the recent dengue outbreak, the region was badly affected, because of the failure in waste management. The minutes of the meetings were not being maintained, nor were they being followed up,” said Rajasekharan Nair, a Congress member.
‘Baseless criticism’
CPI(M) member A. Anilkumar said much of the criticism levelled by the Congress to justify the motion were baseless. The no-confidence motion moved against panchayat president B.S. Chithralekha of the CPI(M) was supported by all the eight UDF members, the two BJP members as well as the lone SDPI member. However, the motion moved against vice president N.Seenath Beevi of the CPI failed to pass, as the SDPI member voted against it.
CPI leader and MLA C. Divakaran accused the Congress of having an unholy alliance with the BJP to topple the LDF. In a press release, he said the LDF had taken a strong stand against the sand and quarry mafia ever since coming to power. “The quarry mafia, with the support of the Congress and BJP, have managed to topple the LDF in the panchayat,” he said.
However, the UDF members said they never sought the support of the BJP or the SDPI members when they moved the motion.
“Even in electing the president and vice president when the current council came into power, we did not take their support. We could have taken their support and won this posts then itself,” said a Congress member.