Political Unrest in Kerala: Youth Congress Protests While BJP Boycotts Council Meeting

He was released as the case was registered as a bailable offence.The driver had alleged that the mayors vehicle attempted to overtake the KSRTC bus on the wrong side.He claimed that the mayors husband, MLA K M Sachin Dev, forced passengers to get off the bus after blocking it on the road.The driver had also said that he was not aware that Arya Rajendran was the mayor and Sachin Dev was an MLA.

The controversy over a misbehaviour complaint lodged by Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran against the driver of a state-run bus took political colour here on Tuesday.

A group of Youth Congress activists staged a protest demonstration against the woman mayor outside the Corporation complex here, while the BJP councillors of the civic body boycotted the council meeting by raising the issue.

However, the ruling CPI(M) councillors extended all support to Rajendran at the meeting.

Mayor Rajendran, who got emotional during the council meeting, said the elected representatives are also ordinary persons and they also have families.

She said she and her family had tried to raise their voice against the wrong tendency, but the media has reported things against her.

''Whenever a woman faces an issue, people will ask her why she has not raised her voice against it at that moment. For the last two days, I have been facing humiliation and difficulties in raising my voice against a wrong thing,'' Rajendran said at the meeting.

The mayor also said she has been subjected to cyberbullying over the incident and alleged that the mainstream media has ignored it.

Meanwhile, BJP councillors, who boycotted the council meeting, raised slogans against the mayor and demanded her resignation.

The opposition councillors later told reporters that the mayor and her MLA-husband Sachin Dev had blocked the KSRTC bus like 'street goons', and they felt it was a shame to attend the council meeting presided over by her.

Earlier in the day, the Youth Congress activists took out a protest march to the Corporation complex located in the heart of the city and placed a board in front of its gate, which read ''It is an overtake-free zone.'' They also pasted posters with pictures of Rajendran in front of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses, which read ''Beware of the Mayor.'' They also criticised the police for not registering a case against the woman mayor based on the complaint by H L Yadhu, the accused KSRTC driver.

The protesters alleged that the police were reluctant to register a case against the mayor, though the driver had first lodged a complaint with the police with regard to the incident.

They said it was found that the mayor and the co-passengers had blocked the bus by parking their car at the zebra crossing in Palayam junction here on Saturday.

A group of KSRTC employees also held a protest demonstration in front of their head office at East Fort here, extending support to the driver.

Meanwhile, KPCC secretary C R Pranakumar submitted a petition to the state Human Rights Commission seeking its intervention to register a case against the mayor and her husband, Sachin Dev, MLA, for obstructing the journey of KSRTC bus passengers.

''It is a violation of human rights to take the law into one's hands by blocking people's journey,'' the complaint said.

When contacted, Cantonment police confirmed that no case has been registered against the mayor or her co-passengers so far based on the complaint of the driver.

An investigation is going over the mayor's complaint, they said.

Meanwhile, Yadhu told reporters here today that he would approach the court seeking its intervention to direct the police to register a case against the mayor based on his complaint.

The developments came a day after Kerala Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar sought a report from the KSRTC managing director in connection with a complaint lodged by Mayor Rajendran alleging that the driver misbehaved with her and her family.

The KSRTC authorities had also asked the driver not to report for duty.

The mayor and her family on Saturday night got into a heated argument with the KSRTC bus driver after blocking the vehicle at Palayam junction. The mayor alleged that the driver made sexually suggestive gestures at them.

She claimed that the driver was rash and negligent, and they intervened after the bus was about to hit their car from behind.

Video footage aired by news channels showed the mayor and her co-passengers in the car engaging in heated arguments with the bus driver after blocking the vehicle at Palayam junction on Saturday.

Police had arrested the driver based on the mayor's complaint that he misbehaved with her. He was released as the case was registered as a bailable offence.

The driver had alleged that the mayor's vehicle attempted to overtake the KSRTC bus on the wrong side.

He claimed that the mayor's husband, MLA K M Sachin Dev, forced passengers to get off the bus after blocking it on the road.

The driver had also said that he was not aware that Arya Rajendran was the mayor and Sachin Dev was an MLA.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)