Bhubaneswar, Nov. 4: Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) is headed for stormy days with corporators cutting across party lines launching an attack on mayor Nibedita Pradhan, a former BJP legislator, to oust her from the post.
The 13 Congress members of the council, with help from their 11 Biju Janata Dal (BJD) counterparts, walked out of a CMC meeting on Monday to announce that they would bring a no-confidence motion against Pradhan.
The Congressmen also claimed the support of three BJP members, two from the Orissa Congress, a regional outfit, and one each from the CPM and Orissa Gana Parishad (OGP).
Under the existing rules, at least 16 of the 48 members need to get together to bring a no-confidence motion. While the BJP has 18 corporators, the BJD has 11 and the Congress 13. The Orissa Congress has four corporators while the OGP and CPM have one each.
To ensure the no-confidence motion, two-third of the members, 32 in this case, has to vote in its favour.
The Congress members said they have sent a notice on the motion to urban development secretary N.C. Vasudevan and are waiting for his reply.
The dissident corporators have accused Pradhan of managing the affairs of the corporation in a high-handed manner and purposefully neglecting the wards represented by BJD members.
When contacted, Pradhan said she did not know anything about the notice. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, meanwhile, has formed a three-member committee comprising excise minister Kalindi Behera, urban development minister K.V. Singh Deo and higher education minister Sameer Dey to look into the matter.
The committee will try to find a solution to the ongoing squabble between the BJP and the BJD corporators. The second-most important municipal body in the state has been in the news for the strife between the mayor and a section of BJD corporators since early this year.
With corporators up in arms against the mayor, development work in Cuttack is likely to pay a heavy price in the coming days. The 11 BJD corporators, under the leadership of deputy mayor Madhusudan Sahu, have boycotted or abstained from the CMC council meetings on six consecutive occasions.
