COIMBATORE: Coimbatore got its first woman Deputy Mayor, S Leelavathi Unni, in a ‘hurry’ on Monday thanks to a classic case of slip between the cup and lip for the AIADMK’s originally intended nominee K B Balraj. The post of Deputy Mayor had fallen vacant following the resignation N Chinnadurai on December 30 last year. Just hours before the Coimbatore Corporation Council was to meet to elect the new Deputy Mayor on Monday, it became apparent that Balraj would be the ruling party nominee for the post. Immediately, senior AIADMK functionary M Manimaran sought to preempt Balraj. He pointed out that since the latter had got a contract to operate a Corporation abattoir in Uppilipalayam, electing him would lead to conflict on interest in civic administration. Balraj had recently written to the Corporation seeking to annul his contract with an eye on bagging the post. His request to surrender his contract was on the agendas for Monday’s council meeting. With Manimaran and a few other councillors objecting to Balraj’s candidature confusion prevailed Amid the drama, Corporation Commissioner consulted Mayor S M Velusamy and adjourned the council meeting by an hour. Subsequently, after backroom confabulations with Chennai, first time councillor Leelavathi Unni was asked to file her nominations. A brief while later the Commissioner declared that she was unanimously elected Deputy Mayor.
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