Mayor seeks Centre’s nod

Then why wasn’t the Centre’s role not detected so far?  ‘’Since I am an advocate, I drowned myself in these legal books, studied the draft of the twinning pact and found that there are legal barriers,’’ she said.

So, does that mean ex-Mayor C Jayan Babu was unaware of legal barriers when he first said yes to meeting officials from Barcelona, back in September 2009?  ‘‘That’s why he referred the issue to the State Government and sought legal advice,’’ she clarified.

But the damage was already done. The news conference that she called to let the people know of the legal barriers she had single-handedly found out might prove costly for her as a party member.   Earlier, she had communicated the same matter in the Council when it was raised by the UDF.  A resolution presented by Johnson Joseph had wanted the Mayor to take a positive stand on the issue before the deadline, December 10. That only Maheswaran Nair rose to speak on the issue from the UDF side showed that even they were not convinced of its emergency character.   The BJP, on the other hand, said they did not know much about the pact and wanted to learn.  Maheswaran Nair, stunning Johnson Joseph, said he agreed with the BJP and that many councillors were unaware of the content of the pact.   Though he went on to explain it to his co-councillors, he made a lot of factual errors, including the statement that former Mayor J Chandra had visited some countries for a twinning programme. Chandra, however, quickly rose to defend herself. Even when the Left members accused the UDF of taking divided positions on the issue – referring to the speech by Maheswaran Nair – the latter chose to remain silent and let his party members fight it out with the LDF members.   That it was after all this pandemonium that the Mayor Chandrika preferred to convene a news  conference to speak on the same issue remained a mystery for many in the LDF. Even the senior CPM members are learnt to have got annoyed with her decision to go for a press meet on the Barcelona issue.   The news conference, meanwhile, ended in the most ridiculous manner with a mediaperson wanting to know what it meant by sharing of ideas with Barcelona. ‘’They are an independent region, having their own Railways and exchequer. What will they learn from us? About potholed roads, street dog menace?’’ he asked.

‘‘About our social relationships. Our family bondings. Our culture, we have a heritage which they can copy,’’ the Mayor replied.

Even the senior CPM leader and Works Committee Chairman V S Padmakumar, who had remained a defender of the Mayor throughout the Council, could not suppress a smile on hearing this.