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Congress councillors decide to stand by BJP mayor in Mohali MC House
Mohali mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu, who quit the grand old party 4 days ago, claims he has support of 40 councillors, including those from Congress & Azad group
Mohali mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu, who quit the Congress four days ago to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seems to have dodged a no-trust motion as councillors of the grand old party have decided to continue supporting him in the House, “without joining the saffron party”.
Sidhu, who is currently the sole BJP councillor in the 50-member Mohali municipal corporation (MC) House, met the Congress councillors on Tuesday. As many as 31 Congress councillors attended the meeting and decided to continue supporting him as mayor, but maintained that they won’t join the BJP. Senior deputy mayor Amrik Singh Somal and deputy mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi were also present in the meeting.
After Sidhu’s exit from the party, Congress is left with 36 councillors in the House. Nine councillors are from the Azad group, led by Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh, two from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and two are independents.
Have support of 40 councillors: Sidhu
A triumphant Sidhu later announced to the media that he enjoys the support of 40 councillors, including some from the Azad group.
Earlier while addressing the councillors during the meeting, Sidhu said that he “would never put pressure on” on any councillor to leave their party. He further said that the Mohali MC House “operates as a family” and he hoped that his fellow councillors would continue cooperating with him.
The mayor also showed videos of five councillors who could not attend the meeting due to their busy schedule but had announced their open support for him.
He later said the “opposition had tried to confuse the public and the media” about the meeting. Sidhu further said that it was unfortunate that the opposition had “tried to involve the municipal commissioner” in the matter.
Responding to a question regarding Congress state unit president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring’s statement about the removal of the mayor, Sidhu said, “Warring is like my brother and he can say anything but the reality is that no one can remove me from the post of mayor as long as my family of councillors stands with me.”
Deputy mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi, who owes allegiance to the Congress party, said that even in 2015, the grand old party had given the post of mayor to Kulwant Singh of Azad Group. Bedi said that a few months after becoming the mayor, Kulwant had joined the Akali Dal but the Congress continued support to him for five years and passed all resolutions unanimously. He said that the development of the city was above any kind of politics so he and his colleagues were standing in support of the mayor.
Move unacceptable, says senior Congress leadership
Rishav Jain, a Congress councillor and the party’s district unit chief said, “It is not acceptable that a BJP mayor will run the MC. The councillors have supported the mayor in fear that, he might stop development works in their wards. I will take up the issue with the party high command and make sure, we have a new mayor in MC.”
State Congress president, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said, “The mayor should have resigned on his own as the Congress had made him the mayor. We will make sure that he is removed and a new mayor is appointed soon. We are waiting for the right time,” he said. On whether any action will be taken against the councillors supporting Sidhu, Warring said, “The councillors said they will go by the decision of the state unit president.”
