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Chorus grows for Patiala mayor’s removal; councillors meet Mohindra
Patiala mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu said four years the same councillors had not raised a word against him; he said he was being attacked only because if his association with Patiala MP Preneet Kaur
Patiala On a day when Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, wife of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, and mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu met chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi over development projects in Patiala, over 40 councillors in the local municipal corporation (MC) have sought removal of city mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu. Later, Preneet and Bittu also CM Captain Amarinder Singh at his Siswan farm house.
Of 60 seats in MC House, 32 are in Captain’s constituency, 26 in local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra’s Patiala (rural) constituency and two in Sanaur.
Councillors met local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra late on Sunday evening and submitted a signed document, seeking removal of Bittu, a close protégé of Amarinder and Preneet.
Mohindra said the councillors have lost confidence in the mayor and had requested him to resolve the issue. “Seventeen councillors from Patiala Urban constituency have submitted in writing, on a legal document, seeking the mayor’s removal. Twenty-six councillors from Patiala rural constituency and two others also put up the same demand, following which the whole process was video-graphed,”the minister said, adding, “It suits me politically as well. I have ensured that the whole process has legal sanctity,” Mohindra said.
He added that according to the Punjab Municipalities Act, at least two-third of councillors will write a formal communique to the mayor for holding a general House meeting. “If the mayor fails to hold the meeting, any elected member is authorised to hold it. In this meeting, a resolution could be passed for the mayor’s removal. The whole process will be with government approval,” Mohindra added.
Responding to the calls for his removal, mayor Bittu said, “Those who were silent over the past four years are now making a hue and cry over my working. After Captain Amarinder Singh’s removal, local Congress leaders and councillors have shifted their loyalties. They are against me, only because I have association with Preneet Kaur.” He added, “It is also strange that a city, which has no association with Patiala city are concerned about him as a mayor.”
In a letter to PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu last month, Congress councillor Krishan Chand Budhu had accused the mayor of corruption, misuse of power in awarding contracts and promoting illegal construction.
