The Congress on Friday expelled Mohali senior deputy mayor Amrik Singh Somal and deputy mayor Kuljeet Singh Bedi from the party for six years over anti-party activities.
The orders, issued by state Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, come a month after Mohali mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu, along with his brother and former cabinet minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, switched from the Congress to the BJP on June 4.
Despite joining the BJP and the Congress having the majority in the 50-member MC House, Amarjit continues to hold the mayor’s seat, purportedly with the support of the Congress councillors, who are said to have been convinced by Somal and Bedi.
In the MC House of 50, the Congress has 37 councillors, 11 councillors are from the Azad group, while two are independents.
Soon after their expulsion, Somal and Bedi held an emergency meeting with councillors, who assured them of full support. Both leaders also denied joining any other political party.
In the meeting, the duo termed the party’s decision “unfortunate”, which had hurt them a lot.
Somal said he had been associated with the Congress since his retirement and had worked for the party as a loyal soldier. “The people of Mohali elected me and made me the senior deputy mayor, and I rose above any kind of politics to serve them. I have never taken any action against the party nor have I ever talked about leaving it,” he said.
Stating that he was saddened by the party’s decision, Bedi said he had just met Warring on Thursday and yet he had been sacked without any notice, adding that the Punjab Congress had already suffered a great loss by taking such dictatorial decisions. He said he had been working as a loyal worker of the Congress since 1992 after joining its youth wing and was not sure why he was expelled.
{{/usCountry}}Stating that he was saddened by the party’s decision, Bedi said he had just met Warring on Thursday and yet he had been sacked without any notice, adding that the Punjab Congress had already suffered a great loss by taking such dictatorial decisions. He said he had been working as a loyal worker of the Congress since 1992 after joining its youth wing and was not sure why he was expelled.
{{/usCountry}}Congress’ district unit chief Rishav Jain, who is also a councillor, said, “How can a BJP mayor be supported by Congress councillors? The state Congress president will hold a meeting with the councillors next week and decide on the next course of action.”