Uncertainty looms large over the fate of Sambalpur Municipal Council even after the High Court on Friday vacated the stay on the writ petition filed by chairperson Rina Trivedi. She had obtained a stay from the court to reserve the outcome of the no-confidence motion against her held on May 7. Although the case was supposed to be taken up by the court on Thursday, it was postponed to Friday.
While it was expected that the counting would be taken up on Friday and the fate of Trivedi would be decided, it could not be done as the district administration is yet to receive any communication from the High Court.
Earlier on May 7, as many as 20 disgruntled councillors had moved the no-confidence motion against Trivedi.
Of the 29 wards under Sambalpur municipal limits, BJP had maximum 15 councillors followed by Congress with 13 besides one Independent. Congress’ strength reduced by one with death of councillor Ladra Munda while seven BJP councillors had resigned from the party reducing it to a minority. Then the disgruntled councillors, including 12 from the Congress and BJP vice-chairman Siddharth Saha, had closed ranks against Trivedi.
Although an attempt was made to unseat Trivedi on February 9 last year, her mentor and Sambalpur BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra managed to bail her out by holding the BJP councillors together. He had then issued a stern warning to Trivedi to mend her ways and take all BJP councillors into confidence before taking any decision.
