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Will contest against minister Mohindra, says suspended Patiala mayor Bittu
Patiala MC commissioner asks the Congress leader to return official vehicle; Amarinder says he will move high court to “save democracy”
Sanjiv Sharma Bittu, who was suspended on Thursday from the post of Patiala mayor by the municipal corporation (MC) general house, announced to contest the assembly elections against local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra, who, according to him, orchestred the plan to remove him.
“To promote his son, Mohindra misused government machinery against me and my supporters. Now, I will contest against him from the Patiala (Rural) assembly seat. I will ensure his defeat as he did all this to remove me as mayor,” said Bittu.
He will contest from his party of former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s newly floated outfit, Punjab Lok Congress.
In 2020, Mohindra had tasked the Patiala Improvement Trust to undertake development works in the Patiala (Rural) segment by taking it out of mayor’s purview.
The civic body on Friday made public the general house proceeding of mayor’s suspension signed by senior deputy mayor Yoginder Yogi. With this, the commissioner asked Bittu to return the official vehicle. The orders for vacating the official accommodation will be issued the next working day, it is learnt.
Amarinder, who participated in the proceedings, said he will approach the Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday against the move.
“Whatever happened in the general house was illegal. There is no provision of suspension of mayor in the Municipal Corporation Act. One can only remove a mayor by passing no-confidence motion with two third-majority of the house, which they didn’t have. I have asked my lawyers to prepare the case against this illegality of the state government,” said Amarinder.
Of the 30 councillors from his assembly segment, 25 are with him, he said. “Even two councillors from Mohindra’s segment are with me. The government used police to threaten my supporters which I will not tolerate,” he added.
Yoginder Yogi held meetings of councillors to speed up development works. “Bittu had stalled development works as he was incompetent. Now, the process has been reinitiated to complete the majority of works before elections,” said Harvinder Nippy, who led a group of councillors against the suspended mayor.
