Cuttack: A war of words broke out between Congress MLA Sofia Firdous and Cuttack Mayor Subhash Singh on Tuesday after the legislator held a review meeting with the officials of the civic body in his absence.
Visibly upset over not being invited to the meeting, Mayor Singh came down heavily on Sofia Firdous, MLA from Barabati-Cuttack, for holding meeting with officials of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in his absence.
Hitting out at the Congress legislator, Singh alleged that her contribution towards Cuttack’s development was nil. He even called Sofia an ‘accidental MLA’ in a sarcastic tone.
Sofia, on the other hand, stood by her actions. Accusing the Mayor of having failed to take necessary steps for the development of Cuttack, she alleged that the BJD leader allowed the city to sink into administrative inefficiency.
She asserted that she has every right to conduct a review meeting to assess the situation in her constituency by holding meeting with the officials concerned.
Mounting a scathing attack on Singh, Sofia claimed that he left the Ganesh Puja preparatory midway and did not stay till the end despite being the Mayor of the city. Singh neither understands the problems of people nor tries to solve the issues, she claimed.
Seeking to know as to who authorised Sofia to conduct such meetings, he accused her of causing disruption in Cuttack’s civic affairs. The BJD leader went on to accuse Sofia’s family of being involved in exploiting the city’s water body resources for business purposes.
Though Cuttack city once had around over 1,800 ponds, the number has come down to around 150 because of her family, Singh alleged.
