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Chandigarh: 1 Congress councillor attends mayor’s meet
Babla strongly condemned the Congress and AAP councillors calling their absence a brazen display of political double standards and an utter disregard for the city’s development
Mayor Harpreet Babla and Congress/AAP councillors are at loggerheads with allegations and counter allegations levelled at each other over attendance of a key development meeting on Friday, which was attended by only one Congress councillor and boycotted by the rest of the opposition councillors.
On November 12, mayor had similarly convened a meeting with BJP councillors over key development works which upset the Congress councillors as key MC officials were also present in the meeting.
On Friday, Babla strongly condemned the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors calling their absence a brazen display of political double standards and an utter disregard for the city’s development, evidenced by their deliberate boycott of a crucial ward-wise review meeting with key MC officials, she said.
The mayor’s office had convened a vital meeting with municipal corporation (MC) officials to review and accelerate development works including essential road repairs, drainage, parks, green belts and sanitation projects etc—for the wards represented by the opposition councillors. This meeting was called on similar lines to the one held recently for BJP councillors and officials, ensuring inclusive governance and rigorous oversight for projects funded under the dedicated ward-wise allotment of ₹25-50 lakh.
Only one Congress councillor – Gurpreet Singh Gabi of Ward Number 34 (Sector 45 and 46) attended the scheduled development review meeting.
The entire contingent of AAP councillors chose to boycott the meeting, as did the majority of their Congress allies.
The opposition in the last house meeting had demanded the status of the ward development and mayor had confirmed that a meeting with officials along with councillors will be called soon to expedite works ward-wise.
“The sheer hypocrisy of the Congress-AAP alliance is astounding and can no longer be ignored,” said Babla. “When we held a meeting for BJP councillors and officials, the attendance was complete and the discussions were productive, focusing on accelerating ground realities. Yet, when the opportunity was extended to the opposition to review development in their own wards, pertinent to the residents who elected them, they shamelessly boycotted it.”
“This is not merely a political boycott; it is a direct dereliction of duty and a grave insult to the voters of Chandigarh. The opposition councillors have shown how disinterested and carefree they are about the development projects in their own wards. They chose cheap theatrics over crucial development review with officials who are there to provide solutions,” said the mayor.
On the other hand, the Chandigarh Congress, in a statement issued, condemned the allegations by mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla calling these baseless.
“Contrary to the mayor’s claims, the so-called “development review meeting” was scheduled unilaterally without proper consultation, without sharing agenda points in advance, and without ensuring the presence of relevant officials responsible for ward-level works. The mayor called the meeting merely as a formality to create a photo-op similar to the one held for BJP councillors, and not as a serious exercise for city development,” said Congress president HS Lucky.
He added that the boycott was a protest against the mayor’s partisan functioning.
“The mayor’s openly biased approach where BJP councillors are given priority, while opposition voices are suppressed. There is lack of transparency, no documentation, and no structured agenda for development review. Repeated failure of the mayor’s office to resolve long-pending issues despite multiple written reminders from councillors,” he claimed.
“I went for development of my ward,” says lone Congress councillor who attended the meet.
Even as the entire brass of Congress and AAP councillors except one boycotted the development meeting convened by mayor, it was councillor of ward number 34 Gurpreet Singh who attended the meeting. “I am not aware of any boycott, I went for development of my ward. If the mayor is playing politics by separately holding meetings with BJP and Congress/AAP councillors, she will be answerable in the next house meeting when I will question her for the development if it’s not done by then,” he said.
