Mayor raises public protest

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It seems she was waiting for a chance to drop the bombshell and on Thursday, pouncing on the occasion, Mayor K Chandrika vented out her angst, to announce that she was being kept away from many functions in the city deliberately. It was at the 13th anniversary celebrations of Kudumbashree Mission and the ‘Sangamam’ of CDS Chairpersons inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and attended by four Ministers at Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium where Mayor chose to voice her protest.  ‘’It was this morning that I was informed about such a big function of Kudumbashree happening in my city. That too, when the Corporation has taken to heart the activities of Kudumbashree and always supported the womenfolk,’’ the Mayor said. It was after the Chief Minister and three Ministers had left the dais that the Mayor raised her protest. It is the third time in a matter of six months that allegations of the Mayor being ignored at a state function is being raised by her or her office. However, it is the first time that the Mayor chose to voice it in a public function. During the visit of  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Thiruvananthapuram in February to inaugurate the Kerala Development Congress organised by the KPCC, the Mayor was absent at the airport to welcome him. Alleging callousness on the part of her office staff in letting her know the details of the function, the Mayor had then removed her personal secretary, which had led to serious differences of opinion between her and the pro-Left employees’ union in the Corporation.   Again, during the visit of Union Minister Jairam Ramesh to the Vizhinjam seaport project site recently, it was alleged that the Mayor was not invited. ‘’I should have been called, but they did not,’’ was how she reacted that day.  On Thursday, it was after the function began that the Mayor and her Council member Palayam Rajan entered the dais. The Mayor began her speech on a defensive mode saying that the man behind the whole concept of Kudumbashree was Thomas Isaac. He was the brain behind the concept, she said, as if somebody had raised doubts about its origin.  However, when contacted, Kudumbashree officials negated Mayor’s statement. They said that an invitation was sent to the Mayor’s office as early as the beginning of this week.