TV
A political tug-of-war erupted in Cuttack after Barabati-Cuttack MLA Sofia Firdous held a review meeting with CMC (Cuttack Municipal Corporation) officials without inviting Mayor Subhash Singh on Tuesday.
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The move sparked a sharp backlash from the Mayor, highlighting internal tensions within the local governance structure.
Sofia Firdous, defending her actions, stated that the Mayor has failed to take proper steps for the city’s development and accused him of letting Cuttack “sink” into administrative inefficiency. “As an elected MLA, I have the right to conduct a review meeting to assess the situation in my constituency, and that is what I did,” she asserted.
“Since the Mayor is sitting in his council, obviously, he knows everything. During the Ganesh Puja preparatory meeting, he had left midway and did not stay till the end. He neither understands the problems of people nor tries to solve them,” Sofia said.
Mayor Subhash Singh, visibly irked by the exclusion, hit back sharply, sarcastically referring to Sofia as an “accidental MLA.”
Singh questioned who had authorised her to conduct such meetings and stated that merely giving suggestions does not grant the power to override official protocol. He further accused her of causing disruption in Cuttack’s civic affairs, even alleging that her family has been involved in exploiting the city’s water body resources for business purposes.
“This kind of MLA is a misfortune for the people of Cuttack,” Singh declared in a scathing remark.
“That (Sofia’s) family has pushed the city to a devastated condition. Has she (the MLA) ever added a single brick in her life? The city once had around 1,860 ponds, but now it has fewer than 150. Who buried them for business interests?” Singh questioned.
