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MC polls: Prestige battle for 2 political families in Karnal
From the BJP, Renu Bala Gupta, wife of the party’s district working president Brij Bhushan Gupta is eyeing her third term as mayor, while Congress has fielded former deputy mayor Manoj Wadhwa.
In what is being seen as a repeat of 2018 elections, two families are pitted against each other again for the post of mayor in the ongoing municipal corporation elections in Karnal.
From the BJP, Renu Bala Gupta, wife of the party’s district working president Brij Bhushan Gupta is eyeing her third term as mayor, while Congress has fielded former deputy mayor Manoj Wadhwa.
Two independent candidates Yash Dev and Mukesh Raghuvanshi are also in fray. Apart from two this, 70 candidates are also in fray from 18 wards of the 20-member house of Karnal MC, while two from the BJP have already been declared winner unopposed.
In 2018 elections, Gupta had won by a margin of 9,348 votes against Wadhwa’s wife Asha Wadhwa, who was the independent candidate backed by several opposition parties, when the post was reserved for woman candidate.
Infact, Manoj held the charge of deputy mayor from 2013-18 under Renu Bala, who was heading the MC as a first-time mayor.
However, this time, the Congress played ‘Punjabi card’ against the BJP candidate, who belongs to the Aggarwal community, at a time when Karnal recently elected former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar as an MP and Jagmohan Anand as an MLA, both from the Punjabi community.
Confident of forming triple-engine government: Gupta
BJP’s Gupta has served two terms as mayor—first in 2013, when she was elected as a councillor and was later chosen as mayor by the elected councillors and later in 2018, when the first direct elections for the post were held.
In her last two terms, Gupta actively participated in several political and social events and emerged as an unchallenged female leader in the district unit.
In the ongoing campaign, she is highlighting the infrastructural facelift of the town under her tenures along with several development works carried out under the Smart City Mission.
At her public events, she is urging the voters to choose BJP again, to ensure a streamline flow of development from Center to MC i.e. triple-engine government.
Addressing a corner meeting in Ram Nagar area of the town, she said, “There is a lot we have done in the past 10 years from installation of LED lights, widening of city roads, beautification of parks with open-air gyms and community centres, grand entry gates, installation of CCTV cameras, and Olympic-level all-weather swimming pool.”
She said that if elected, the development of the town will be taken forward and sewage, water and other services will be improved.
Karnal ready for change: Wadhwa
Wadhwa is also not new for the MC. He was elected as a councillor on an INLD ticket in 2013 and was chosen as deputy mayor.
In 2014, he contested the assembly elections against Khattar as an INLD candidate. And after his wife lost the 2018 mayor polls, she shifted to the BJP.
However, just ahead of Lok Sabha polls last year, he switched over to the Congress.
His multi-party defection cost him dear as his close associates including district Congress coordinator Tarlochan Singh, former chairperson Balwinder Kalra, former councillor Ashok Khurana and others switched over to the BJP last week.
Singh and Khurana had even accompanied him to file his nomination papers a day ahead of their joining.
He is now facing an uphill task in the absence of Congress’s organisation structure, party’s back-to-back defeats in the state and in Karnal that has seemingly demotivated the cadre.
Wadhwa is engaging with voters through door-to-door programmes and corner meetings highlighting corruption in the MC and problems faced by the public.
During a conversation with HT, Wadhwa said, “My Karnal is taking my election forward and have decided to elect for change this time. If elected, we will start ‘Mayor Apke Dwar’ to take MC services to the citizens and ‘Pension Mitra’ to easy pension services for the elderly. We will ensure smooth traffic movement after removing traffic lights that are not required. We will add more parking spaces and improve the sewage system as well.”
