DMK councillors firm in their decision to unseat Mayor through ‘no confidence motion’

38 of 55 councillors in Tirunelveli Corporation seek to unseat Mayor P.M. Saravanan in a no confidence motion on Jan 12.

At least 38 of the 55 councillors in Tirunelveli Corporation council are firm in their decision to unseat Mayor P.M. Saravanan, against whom they had submitted a petition to Commissioner Thakare Shubham Dnyandeorao

A majority of the disgruntled DMK councillors, whose ‘demands’ were not reportedly fulfilled by the Mayor, had dashed off memorandum to Chief Minister and DMK chief M.K. Stalin and heir apparent and DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin separately on August 18.

Of the 45 DMK-allied councillors in the 55-member council, including Mr. Saravanan, 44 members - 40 DMK members, 2 Congress councillors and lone members of CPI (M) and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi - had signed in the petition. Seven members, including five DMK councillors, a MDMK member and a Congress councillor - had not signed. The council has four AIADMK members.

After the council meetings witnessed acrimonious scenes and one of the meetings could not be started on time due to the ‘absence’ of warring councillors, the DMK high-command suspended three councillors - Pavulraj, Mansoor, and Ravindar.

However, the disgruntled councillors submitted a memorandum to the Commissioner urging him to allow ‘no confidence motion’ against Mr. Saravanan in the council meeting. The all-important motion which will embarrass the DMK high command is to be taken up for debate and voting on January 12.

 Tirunelveli central district secretary and former minister T.P.M. Mohideen Khan, tried to pacify the warring councillors.  “There is no point in Mr. Khan trying to soften our stance against the Mayor, who adamantly refused to accept our ‘demands.’ We took up the matter with Ministers K.N. Nehru and Thangam Thennarasu on different occasions but in vain. Three councillors were even suspended. So, we have moved the ‘no confidence motion’ which will be adopted with a thumping majority,” said one of the councillors whose name is bandied about for the mayoral post.

Meanwhile, one of the ‘powerful’ councillors, has started mobilising support among DMK members for backing him for that post.