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Junaid Azim Mattu loses no-confidence motion, removed as Srinagar mayor
Mattu, who has survived a no-confidence motion in the past, claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Conference have joined hands in Srinagar.
Junaid Azim Mattu was on Tuesday removed as the Srinagar municipal corporation (SMC) mayor after he lost a no-confidence motion moved against him by some corporators.
The People’s Conference leader, whose election as Srinagar mayor had generated controversy two years ago, took to Twitter to announce his defeat.
“The vote of ‘No Confidence Motion’ against me, and the @JKPC_ (Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference) has been passed in the SMC with 42 votes out of 70. The @BJP4India, @JKNC_ (Jammu and Kashmir National Conference) and some independents have polled against the @JKPC_ and @INCIndia abstaining whip where 28 corporators abstained,” Mattu tweeted soon after losing the no-confidence motion at the city’s banquet hall.
“I respect the verdict of the corporation,” he said.
Mattu, who has survived a no-confidence motion in the past, claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Conference have joined hands in Srinagar. “The seemingly unthinkable seems to have happened as @JKNC_ and @BJP4India have come together in Srinagar,” he tweeted.
Mattu said he is taking the verdict with humility and his chin up.
Also, the National Conference expelled four corporators from the party for voting in a no-confidence motion which resulted in Mattu’s removal as mayor of the SMC. “Ghulam Nabi Sufi, Danish Bhat, Neelofar and Majid Shulloo have been expelled after they defied the party whip to abstain from voting on the no-confidence motion,” NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar said in a statement. “They have been expelled from the basic membership of the party for violating the whip,” he said.
Even after the expulsion of NC corporators, Mattu was critical of the party. In another tweet, he said: “After a near unanimous resolution of the council to remove the former deputy mayor who had joined hands with the BJP during his incarceration—the @JKPC_ officially extended support to @INCIndia for the post of deputy mayor. And here is where things get interesting: The @JKNC_ yet again refused to be a part of the greater- @JKPC_ @INCIndia, and JKNC ‘alliance’ limited to SMC when the current deputy mayor (an NC nominee) thwarted the JKPC-INC alliance by engineering two factions within @INCIndia in the SMC—with an eye on the post.”
He further tweeted:…“Didn’t want to speak about technical realities of today’s floor test in SMC and it’s result but the record needs to be set straight about @JKNC_’s exclusive and facilitatory role in ensuring the success of the BJP-engineered, orchestrated and backed ‘No Confidence Motion’.”
“Today’s ‘No Confidence Motion’ is an eventual consequence—yet again instigated by the National Conference in SMC. You can’t claim votes against BJP nominees and then join them post elections!’’
The BJP said it had nothing to do with the no-confidence motion. However, political analysts say that this move was jointly taken by independent legislators with the support of BJP.
The Congress, which has 17 corporators, had issued a whip asking its members not to take part in the no-confidence proceedings.
Mattu, 35, had resigned from the National Conference only to participate in the polls in 2018. A former financial analyst who returned from the US barely a decade ago to join politics, he is also one of the senior leaders of the People’s Conference led by Sajjad Lone.
The term of the mayor and the deputy mayor is 30 months and both office bearers have to seek a fresh mandate from the corporators. They have more than 18 months to seek a fresh mandate within the corporation. Interestingly, Mattu had secured 40 votes to win the election in 2018 and the BJP corporators had supported him. He bagged more than 45 votes last year to defeat the no confidence motion and then deputy mayor Sheikh Imran who was in jail was also removed. However, Imran has been released and is now on the forefront of becoming the new Srinagar MC mayor.
