Unholy Alliance in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation; UDF Acting as BJP’s 'B' Team, Says V Sivankutty

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) leader V Sivankutty has alleged that the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, under BJP rule, has plunged into complete administrative paralysis, with the civic body office and its affiliated agencies turning into centres of corruption. He alleged that as the LDF organises sustained protests against this governance failure that is making life difficult for the public, the UDF is colluding with the BJP to weaken these efforts. The no-confidence motion now announced, he said, is part of a UDF drama aimed at diverting public attention from the BJP's administrative failures.

He said the Corporation's day-to-day functioning has come to a complete halt — most streetlights in the city remain unlit, the stray dog menace continues unchecked without effective intervention, and waste management and sanitation work have fallen into disarray. Welfare schemes and benefits meant for ordinary citizens remain stalled. It is ordinary people, he said, who are bearing the brunt of this administrative mismanagement.

Sivankutty alleged that the BJP leadership is trying to protect one fo their councillor booked under the KAAPA Act, resorting to unlawful means, including fabricating documents, to prevent his disqualification. He said the Corporation has turned into a safe haven for shielding criminals. He called the UDF's announcement of a no-confidence motion in the Corporation a farce, pointing out that the UDF itself knows well it lacks the numbers in the council needed to even move such a motion. He alleged that the move is meant solely to bail out the BJP, and that a clear "deal" exists between the BJP and the UDF aimed at diverting public attention from administrative failures and weakening the LDF's people's movements. The UDF, he said, has turned into the BJP's "B-team."

Sivankutty said the state government must urgently intervene to end the administrative paralysis at the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, and made clear that the LDF would press ahead with strong agitations to rein in a council administration that is harming the public.