Team Herald
MARGAO: In a pre-emptive move, Margao Municipal Council Chairwoman Babita Angle has offered to resign, if the majority of the councillors so wished, and facilitate a smooth transition for a new chairperson to take over reins of the council on Gandhi Jayanti
Lunching a scathing attack on councillors affiliated to Congress and BJP who are allegedly attempting to oust her, Angle said, “Councillors owing allegiance to ideologically opposed parties are attempting to repeat the recent sequence that happened in Goa Assembly.”
In a letter that was shared with the reporters, Babita wrote, “I am extremely pained and disturbed to read reports in the print media that some councillors of the Margao Municipal Council are planning to move a motion of no confidence against me. I understand that they are fully within their democratic rights to do so, but the fact remains that they are attempting this move at a time when I am unable to attend to my duties for medical reasons, having undergone a surgical procedure on August 11 and being advised to take complete rest for a month.”
“It is most disturbing and worrying that my colleagues in the Council are conspiring to create instability at a time when all councillors should be united, in the interests of the city of Margao, to solve the many issues facing the city; most importantly, the Sonsoddo garbage dump and waste management plant issue,” she wrote.
“Instead of facing this problem together, it is unfortunate that the Council is sought to be destabilised by certain forces for petty political reasons. It appears that councillors owing allegiance to diametrically-opposed ideological parties are coming together in a repeat of the recent sequence of events in the Legislative Assembly,” she wrote.
“I wish to make it very clear that I do not intend to cling to power and continue as chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council if a majority of the councillors do not wish so. But, before that, I will rejoin my duties after my recuperation, and consult those who had given me the opportunity to serve my city as chairperson. I will present to the people of Margao a balance sheet of my tenure as chairperson and then, if the majority of the council wishes, I undertake to resign and facilitate a smooth transition for a new Chairperson to take over on the October 2, 2019 on Gandhi Jayanti, without allowing any period of instability or disarray in the Council,” Angle wrote.
The news of attempts being made to dethrone Angle has been making rounds ever since Goa Forward was removed from the government. Recently, group reportedly obtained signatures of 15 councillors for moving a no-confidence motion. However, there was no confirmation to the same till Thursday evening.
