BJP survives no confidence vote in Palakkad

Palakkad: The BJP managed to save the lone municipality it rules in the state when a no-confidence motion moved by the UDF was defeated by one vote on Monday.
With a Congress member dramatically resigning ahead of voting, the motion received only 26 of the required 27 votes for passage in the 52-member council.

The UDF leaders alleged that the BJP indulged in horse trading and used money power to force one of its members to resign. They also alleged that the councillor has since been taken to an unknown destination.

During the debate on the motion, municipal chairperson Pramila Sasidharan and vice chairman C Krishnakumar said that the opposition’s move was aimed at stalling the development projects taken up by them for the past three years.

With 27 councillors –– UDF 17, CPM 9 and Welfare Party 1 ––the opposition was confident of getting the no-confidence motion passed till Monday morning. One UDF member has no voting right currently due to an ongoing court case.

The defeat was a big humiliation for the Congress and UDF who were planning for long to topple the BJP in the Palakkad municipality.

Urban affairs, Kozhikode regional joint director K Pavithran was the returning officer who presided over the council meeting that took up the no-confidence motion at 9 am on Monday.

Later the UDF councillors gheraoed municipal secretary Raghuraman inside the council hall for allegedly playing a role in the resignation of the Congress member.

Congress parliamentary party leader K Bhavadas alleged that the secretary accepted the resignation letter of the councillor at his house on Sunday and kept it as a secret till the council meet started on Monday.