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After the twists and turns on the eve of the no-trust motion, the ruling Congress-backed Cuncolim Municipal councillors on Tuesday succeeded in voting out Cuncolim Municipal Chairperson Laxman Naik from office, but not before getting a BJP-backed councillor to support the motion.
The no-trust motion was signed by eight Congress-backed group in the 14-member Cuncolim Municipal body. As it turned out, however, the motion was carried by 9-0 votes after a BJP councillor Rahul Desai voted in support of the motion against Chairperson Laxman Naik.
The special meeting of the Cuncolim Municipal Council held on Tuesday morning came under focus after the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) Gurudas Pilarnekar on Monday evening, first called for the postponement of the meeting and within minutes withdrew his letter, leaving the councillors a confused lot and throwing up question over the motive behind the DMA’s action.
Taking no chances, the Congress-backed councillors were reportedly put up in a hotel to avoid poaching bid after the Congress leaders did not rule out the possibility of a bid to break the group against the backdrop of the DMA’s postponement letter and subsequent withdrawal of the letter on Monday.
Sources in the know, however, said that the Congress group headed by Opposition leader, Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao reportedly made a counter move to break the BJP-led group. As it turned out, the beleaguered Chairman Laxman Naik as well as the BJP group of councillors remained absent, but the lone BJP-backed councillor Rahul Desai attended the meeting to support the no-trust motion against the CMC chairperson.
After the motion was carried by 9-0 votes, the Congress councillors said they had to table the no-trust motion after Laxman Naik refused to step down from office after completing over two years in office.
Councillor John Dias told the media said, “After the victory in 2021 Municipal polls, the group decided to split the five years amongst the aspirants Laxman Naik and Landry Mascarenhas with a fixed tenure of one year half month,” he said.
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