Former municipal chairperson disqualified as councillor

Kochi: The Thrikkakara municipality secretary disqualified former municipality chairperson Ajitha Thankappan from the councillor post on Tuesday. The decision was taken due to lapses in attending education standing committee meetings for over eight months."The decision was made after assessing the attendance at the education standing committee meetings, and a notice was served to the councillor. However, the action can be overturned by the council," said municipality secretary Santhosh.Speaking to TOI, Thankappan conceded receiving the letter from the secretary. "It is clear that the decision is politically motivated. I will be responding to the notice soon," said Thankappan.The former chairperson said she attended all the meetings for which she received prior notice, and attended two meetings of the education standing committee in Nov. Meanwhile, Radhamani Pillai, the chairperson of the municipality, also deemed the decision politically motivated and said the decision would be overturned in the upcoming council meeting.