IUML panchayat member quits posts

MALAPPURAM: Pookkottur panchayat vice-president Vettassery Mariyumma has resigned from her post in protest against the ‘male chauvinist attitude’ of her party, the IUML. She also quit the party membership.Mariyumma alleged at a press meet on Monday that two UDF members of the panchayat were harassing her and interrupting her official duties. She had lodged complaints with the officials but no action was taken.“K Muhammed Mansoor, an Independent member supporting the UDF, and T V Ismail of the IUML, were constantly trying to interrupt my official work. It is not for the first time that I am forced to resign from an official post for the same reason, I had resigned from the post of president of the Pookkottur panchayat in the previous term after ruling for a year,” Mariyumma said.According to Mariyumma, the provocation for the incidents is that she tried to prevent a panchayat member from marrying off her underage daughter. Mariyumma had discussed the issue with an SDPI worker, who recorded the phone conversation and handed it over to Mansoor and Ismail. The issue then reached the IUML district committee. “Later they decided to limit my duties to attending the official meetings of  the panchayat and said I need not interfere in the daily activities of the panchayat, alleged Mariyumma.