The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) of the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation has reiterated its demand for the resignation of the two councillors of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who are facing corruption allegations. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, leaders of the LDF accused the BJP of sponsoring counter protests to divert attention from the allegations against its own councillors.
Punnakkamugal councillor P.V. Manju is accused of aiding a coverup in the alleged misappropriation of around ₹3 lakh collected by the local Haritha Karma Sena (HKS) unit as user fee from households in the ward. The issue came to light when some of the members of the unit raised a complaint with the junior health inspector that their monthly wages, which is dependent on the user fee, were delayed. The LDF accused Ms. Manju of organising secret meetings at her home between June 16 and 22 to hush up the matter. She lodged a formal complaint with the police and the corporation only on June 23 after the issue became public through media reports, said CPI(M) councillor D.R. Anil.
The other allegation was against Pappanamcode councillor G.S. Asha Nath, whom the LDF accused of collecting money from beneficiaries for providing the Corporation’s application forms for various schemes. The allegations were based on a social media post that she had made earlier this month in which she claimed that a person who is no longer an office-bearer of the BJP has been collecting money illegally in her name for providing application forms. The LDF alleged that the councillor put up the post as a face saver. On June 28, Ms. Asha Nath had edited the post to remove the reference to the former BJP office-bearer and changed it to “an individual”.
Mr. Anil alleged that the councillor revealed the issue in a social media post following a dispute over sharing the spoils of corruption. The LDF demanded that the councillors should resign from their posts.
Published – June 30, 2025 08:55 pm IST
