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Sangrur civic body turmoil: AAP reduced to minority as 8 councillors quit party
Eight AAP councillors in Sangrur resigned, seeking development work intervention. Two independents also withdrew support, citing lack of cooperation.
Eight Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors in Sangrur municipal council, who had resigned from the party on Thursday, met deputy commissioner Rahul Chaba seeking his intervention to speed up development work in the city.
On Friday, two independent councillors also withdrew their support from the AAP-controlled municipal council, alleging president Bhupinder Singh’s was ‘not cooperating’ with regard to development works in the city.
On Thursday, eight councillors, including senior vice-president Preeti Jain and vice-president Krishan Kumar Vicky, had resigned from the party, reducing AAP to a minority in the 31-member House, which also includes the votes of two AAP MLAs, Sangrur’s Narinder Kaur Bharaj and Sunam’s Aman Arora, who also happens to be the party’s Punjab head and a cabinet minister.
“ The city is riddled with several issues, including water supply, sewerage problems, and potholes. Garbage is scattered everywhere. We even spoke to the higher authorities, but only false promises were made,” alleged independent councillor Parminder Singh Pinky.
In the December 2024 civic body elections, the AAP had won seven wards and secured a majority with the support of five independents and two others in April this year. It also had two ex officio votes of Sangrur MLA Narinder Kaur Bharaj and Sunam MLA Aman Arora, bringing the total to 16 out of the total 31 seats.
The BJP has 3 councillors, while the Congress has 9 members.
MLA Bharaj said efforts are on to address the issues raised by the ‘disgruntled’ councillors.
“Efforts are on from our side to persuade them. I’ve also been contacted by the district administration about the developmental works that are stalled. The DC has assured that all the developmental works will be completed soon,” the MLA said.
Sangrur DC Rahul Chaba said that the administration is geared up to restart the development works. “Their (councillors) main demand was regarding roads, and I’ve even given instructions to the ADC (development) Amit Bambi to look into the issues and resume the stalled projects as soon as possible,” Chaba said.
Councillor Krishan Lal Vicky warned that more councillors may resign in the coming days. “More councillors are ready to join us. Now, the president will be chosen as per our wishes,” he said.
Council president Bhupinder Singh refuted the allegations. “There is nothing like that. The development works are in full swing. There are no resignations, and the matter will be resolved soon,” he said.
