: Days ahead of the elections for the senior deputy and deputy mayor of Municipal Corporation, Ambala City, Independent councillor (house member) Rubi Sauda on Saturday joined the BJP.
She was inducted into the saffron party fold by city MLA Aseem Goel at his residence in the presence of house members Hitesh Jain, Archana Chhibber and other party leaders.
After joining, Sauda said she is highly influenced by the developmental works carried out by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and MLA Goel and believes that her new step will pave the way for the fulfilment of her poll promises.
Sauda was earlier with the Haryana Democratic Front (HDF) till the party founder Nirmal Singh Mohra joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and merged it with the latter. However, she decided to remain independent.
Sauda was among 10 persons booked on murder charges in February last year after a 27-year-old man died in a suspected post-poll violence incident.
A House meeting was also adjourned in March by the mayor seeking her arrest. A plea before divisional commissioner Renu Phulia demanding her disqualification was rejected.
On being asked about her tainted past, legislator Goel told the reporters, “Following a police probe, she was given a clean chit in the case. We are in no way taking any political advantage in this.”
{{/usCountry}}On being asked about her tainted past, legislator Goel told the reporters, “Following a police probe, she was given a clean chit in the case. We are in no way taking any political advantage in this.”
{{/usCountry}}With this, the BJP is now the single-largest party in the House having nine members followed by eight from Venod Sharma’s Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP), two from Congress and one independent, earlier with the HDF.
There are three nominated councillors as well, two from the BJP and one from its ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), while mayor Shakti Rani Sharma belongs to the HJCP.
Political observers are of the opinion that nominated members do not have voting rights and if the mayor’s vote is counted, the BJP and the HJCP will be equal and it will be interesting to see where independent Toni Chaudhary chooses to vote.
Outgoing MC commissioner Neha said, “I’ve written two letters on the subject to the mayor in the last week of November. The elections can be held within 48 hours of her reply.”