After a brief lull, demands to oust Kochi Mayor Soumini Jain have resurfaced, with women councillors of Congress party seeking her removal from the post.
The demands to oust Soumini Jain from the post had escalated two weeks ago following the results of recently-held bye-elections in Ernakulam Assembly constituency. The demand died down after Congress state party chief Mullappally Ramachandran maintained that there will be no leadership change in the Kochi Corporation. But now, after about a week of calm, the divide in Congress over Soumini Jain is out in the open again. Six women councillors of the party in Kochi Corporation on Saturday have spoken up to demand the Mayor’s ouster.
VK Minimol, the Mahila Congress district president and former health standing committee chairperson, along with councillors Gracy Babu, V Malini, Shakritha Sureshbabu, Shameena AR (who lean towards the ‘I’ group) and Delena Pinhero (who belongs to the ‘A’ group), stated that the KPCC should take necessary action to oust Soumini from the post. However, unlike the last time, the councillors have clarified why they are demanding the ouster.
“We are demanding the ouster, not because of Kochi’s waterlogging or any other issues as is being widely circulated by a section of people. This demand is completely political. When Soumini Jain became the Mayor, the condition was that she will hand over the post after two and a half years to another councillor from the party. But now, this is the fourth year and she has not kept that promise,” councillor VK Minimol told TNM.
The 'A' group and 'I' group are two factions within the Congress party. Soumini Jain is part of Congress 'A’ faction in the district. As per the agreement by Congress leaders in Kochi, the Mayor post should have been given to an ‘I’ group woman councillor.
With UDF winning by a poor margin in the recently held assembly bye-elections, top leaders of the party in the district, including MP Hibi Eden, had said that the poor show of the party in polls was because of the weak performance of the Kochi Corporation. Hibi Eden, who is part of the ‘I’ group, had also openly stated that there should be a change in the leadership of Kochi Corporation. It was following this, that Mullappally Ramachandran slammed those raising demands to oust Soumini Jain, saying that there is no need to make anyone the scapegoat for the bad performance of the party in the polls.
While agreeing with Mullappally, the women councillors also said that they are not demanding her removal over the poor performance in the polls.
“We also do not believe there is no need for anyone to bear the brunt alone. The Mayor alone does not run the Corporation; the councillors of the ruling, as well as the opposition front, are also responsible for the actions of the local body. We want to make it clear to the people that we are not demanding the Mayor’s ouster for this reason,” said Minimol.
She also added that with Soumini Jain not keeping the promise of resigning from the post, what is going to be affected is the belief that the councillors have in the party leadership. “In the coming elections, when a similar situation comes, no councillors will believe the party leadership’s promises,” she said.
Meanwhile, Soumini Jain continues to enjoy the ardent support of a section of Congress councillors. A few days ago, two women councillors – Congress’s Jose Mary and independent candidate Geetha Prabhakaran, who supports UDF in the Corporation – had come out in support of the Mayor, stating that they will decline support to UDF in council if Soumini Jain was ousted. Following this, about ten other councillors approached the party stating that they do not support the faction that demands the ouster of the Mayor.
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