Thiruvananthapuram: Arya Rajendran, the young Thiruvananthapuram Mayor, seems to be in trouble after a letter, allegedly written by her, to CPI-M district secretary Anavoor Nagappan seeking a list of candidates for 295 temporary vacancies in the Corporation, went viral on social media.
Rajendran, however, denied writing any such letter (written on her official letterhead) and even Nagappan refused having received it but agreed to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties in the Corporation — the BJP and the Congress — have decided to seek the resignation of the Mayor for breach of her oath.
This incident has rocked the ruling CPI-M, which is having its high-level meetings of the state party unit here on Saturday and Sunday.
The party is reportedly peeved that the letter has now gone viral on social media after being leaked by one of the party members.
The letter from Rajendran to Nagappan begins with the salutation, Comrade, and it goes on to point out that there are 295 vacancies in various posts coming up in the health department attached to the Corporation and seeks a list of prospective candidates.
Incidentally, this controversy surfaced when the Mayor was away in Delhi to attend a protest march against the BJP national government by the CPI-M under the hashtag, ” Where is my job,”
Youth Congress leader and former two-time Congress legislator K.S.Sabarinathan slammed the Mayor for this.
“We are told that she is away in Delhi to attend a protest asking for jobs, while in her own domain, jobs are given to their own party members and these back door appointments have been going on for a while,” said Sabarinathan.
State BJP president K.Surendran said the Mayor has to resign for this grave act of corruption.
“It’s now become very common that jobs in government are there only for CPI-M members and their kith and kin. We will launch protests to see that the present administration of the Corporation under the Mayor quits,” said Surendran.
BJP councillor and Thiruvananthapuram district president V.V.Rajesh said now that the Mayor has said she has not written such a letter. She should immediately complain to the Cyber wing and see if the person who did this is brought to book.
“The CPI-M is known for placing its stooges in crucial posts and the top leadership of the party runs the show and this is one place where such a thing happens,” said Rajesh.
