Cut off from government dos, Mayor cut up

CHENNAI: Chennai Mayor M Subramanian has raised a protest against the recent inauguration of a number of projects by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa over video conferencing. The Mayor complained that the State government has crossed all lines of official conventions by not inviting the elected officials  concerned to the inauguration ceremony.Of all the projects, that Jayalalithaa inaugurated on Wednesday was the bone of contention - the new flyover at Rangarajapuram. Sources in the Corporation said that  a tussle has been going on between the Corporation and the State government ever since the AIADMK took over the reins.The source told Express that the Mayor had been pulling all stops to ensure he inaugurated the new flyover at Rangarajapuram. “With local body elections around the corner, the Mayor wanted to take credit for the flyover, which had been planned and constructed during his regime. As expected, the political bosses in Ripon Building and Fort St George are not seeing eye to eye,” said the source.In a strong statement from the DMK headquarters, Subramanian critisised the  State government regarding the  inaugurations. “Twenty-six projects had been completed by the Chennai Corporation at a cost of over Rs 31 crore. Chief Minister on Wednesday inaugurated all of them from Fort St George. Protocol was not followed as the local elected representatives such as MLA, MP and councillors were not invited,” he said. “Protocol has been ignored by the State government. The  government has  even omitted the names of the Corporation and officials from the plaques and is just carrying the CM’s name.