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Congress expels Bathinda mayor for anti-party activities
Party’s state general secretary Sandeep Sandhu issued a letter stating Goyal, the first woman mayor of the largest urban local body of south Malwa, and four Congress councillors --Atma Singh (ward-40); Sukhraj Singh Aulakh (ward-42); Inderjit Singh (ward-44) and Rajat Rahi (ward-46), have been expelled from the party for six years.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) on Wednesday expelled Bathinda mayor Raman Goyal on grounds of anti-party activities.
Party’s state general secretary Sandeep Sandhu issued a letter stating Goyal, the first woman mayor of the largest urban local body of south Malwa, and four Congress councillors --Atma Singh (ward-40); Sukhraj Singh Aulakh (ward-42); Inderjit Singh (ward-44) and Rajat Rahi (ward-46), have been expelled from the party for six years.
All five elected representatives were considered close aides of former finance minister Manpreet Badal, who had left the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) last month.
After Manpreet’s induction into the saffron party, the mayor’s camp, comprising about a dozen Congress councillors, started giving feelers that more may follow their leader’s political footsteps. However, no Congress councillor joined the BJP.
At the budget meeting held on Wednesday, it became clear that the mayor’s support base had shrunk significantly.
Party members credited the state Congress president Amrinder Raja Warring and Bathinda district president Rajan Garg for keeping the flock together even as several councillors were hinting at going with Manpreet.
Garg, on whose recommendations the five were shunted out, said on Wednesday Goyal failed to live up to the expectations of the city and the party leadership.
“Bathinda is crying for development and maintenance works as the mayor did not convene the General House meeting for almost five months. Development activities worth crores of rupees were held up as no monthly meetings were held after September 28. She was also staying away from all Congress events, something that was viewed as a serious breach of discipline and a bid to hobnob with opponents,” he said.
Garg said the action would give out a stern signal to the cadre to stay committed to the party’s ideology. “The councillors will soon meet to decide the future course of electing the new mayor,” he added.
A political novice, Goyal was elected mayor on April 15, 2021, after the Congress won 43 seats in the 50-member House.
It was a major electoral achievement of the Congress as Bathinda local body was a stronghold of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the former got a clear majority for the first time. However, her elevation to the top post of the local body caused political turmoil in the Bathinda Congress.
Manpreet was considered to have played a key role in electing Goyal as a mayor.
Veteran city politician, Jagroop Singh Gill, who had contested from ward number 48, had won the elections for a record seventh time and was being seen as the strongest claimant to the mayor’s post.
When he was ignored over a first-time contestant with no political experience, Gill left the Congress and joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in August, 2021.
Gill had alleged Goyal was favoured only because her husband, Sandeep Goyal, a wine contractor, is close to Manpreet and his core team. The charge was rubbished by Manpreet.
In the last assembly elections, Gill was fielded against his bete noire Manpreet from Bathinda urban and he defeated the five-time MLA by over 65,000 votes.
