CUNCOLIM: Cuncolim Municipal Council Chairperson Lavita Mascarenhas has for the time being retained her chair, as the meeting called to take up the no confidence motion moved against could not be held on Thursday, as the presiding officer failed to turn up for the meeting after falling sick.
Quepem Municipal Council chief officer Pramod Dessai was appointed to conduct the meeting that was to take up the motion against Mascarenhas. Since Dessai fell sick, the meeting could not be held.
The councilors who moved the motion cried foul saying it was a tactic to save Mascarenhas from being booted out of her chair. “This time, the presiding officer saved her (by falling sick), but she will be voted out at the next meeting. We are all together,” said a councilor who is a signatory to the no confidence motion.
Meanwhile, Mascarenhas told media persons that her deputy Mario Morais “is trying to topple the council; he wants to get me out, because I have not succumbed to his pressure tactics.” “Morais asked me to withdraw all police cases filed against him by the Council and former chief officer Pandarinath Naik. He also demanded financial aid. Since I refused, he wants to get me out of the chair,” she said.
