CHENNAI CORPORATION: Mayor does not allow congratulatory resolutions

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on June 1, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/may-does-not-allow-congratulatory-resolutions/279700.html

CHENNAI: Playing cheap politics on the floors of the historic Chennai Corporation, mayor M Subramanian (of DMK) on Tuesday, refused to allow a customary resolution to be moved by the Left parties to congratulate the new AIADMK government for winning the Assembly polls.

Though there were expectations of fireworks from the Tuesday’s Council Meet, as it has been convened after a three-month-gap and in a changed political scenario, everything went normally and the session got over in little more than three hours.

Minutes after the meeting was convened in the morning, three Left party councillors were on their toes, asking mayor Subramanian to unanimously adopt a congratulatory resolution for the new government led by AIADMK. However, Subramanian sharply declined to heed their request for adopting the resolution and went ahead with the day’s agenda.

When the trio was still holding on to its demand, the mayor announced that the resolution had been dumped, as it did not reach his office on time. He said that it was handed over to him just two days back, as against the mandatory period of a minimum of eight days prior to the convening of the council meeting.

When the CPIM’s councilor Devi (ward-58) confronted the mayor, saying that it was a tradition to pass the resolution in the council and that the DMK had in fact passed several such resolutions in the past, the irked Mayor replied that it was up to the Mayorship to decide on such things.

However, Subramanian allowed the Left party councilors to register their congratulatory message to the new government, while speaking during the Zero Hour debate.

Incidentally, despite having absolute majority on the floors, DMK and Congress councilors have conspicuously refrained from moving any resolution congratulating former chief minister M Karunanidhi or former deputy chief minister MK Stalin, for winning the Assembly polls.

While the DMK-led Council passed such resolutions, congratulating the new state governments in 1996 and 2006 (both DMK regime), the same courtesy was not extended when the AIADMK was voted to power in 2001 and 2011.

In 2001, there were altercations and a walkout by AIADMK councilors when the then mayor MK Stalin refused to allow such a resolution to be moved in the floor of the house by the then deputy mayor ‘Karate’ R Thiyagarajan.

Repeating the same after 10 years, mayor M Subramanian on Tuesday, did not allow such resolutions to be adopted in the house.