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BJP appoints Ganesh Bidkar as leader of PMC house; Congess names Chandusheth Kadam as its leader
BJP appoints Ganesh Bidkar as leader in Pune Municipal Corporation after winning civic polls. Congress and NCP also name new leaders ahead of mayoral election.
After a stellar performance in the civic polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Ganesh Bidkar as the party leader. As the BJP is the ruling party, Bidkar will now become the leader of the house in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Congress has appointed Ramchandra alias Chandusheth Kadam as the party leader. Arvind Shinde and all the elected members handed over the letter to the divisional commissioner regarding the same.
Meanwhile, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) has appointed Sopan alias Kaka Chavan as a party leader on Friday.
Bidkar, who was defeated in the 2017 elections, was nominated as a corporator and made the leader of the house in the last two years.
He was in charge of the city unit and played an important role in the ward delimitation and ticket distribution. Bidkar is considered close to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Kadam is the nephew of the late minister Patangrao Kadam. He has contested and won elections from the Kothrud assembly area, which is considered a BJP bastion. As he is associated with the Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute, he has strong supporters in the area.
As the mayor’s election is slated for February 9, all parties have started appointing their group leaders before the house is formed. This year, the mayor’s post in the PMC has been reserved for a woman candidate from the general category.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) recently appointed Nilesh Nikam as its party leader in the PMC which effectively makes him the leader of the opposition in the civic body. Though Nikam is from the NCP Sharadchandra Pawar faction, former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar,who died in a plane crash in Baramati recently, had himself appointed him to the post as he contested the election on the “clock” symbol.
The development comes days after civic elections were held in which the BJP got a clear majority, with 119 corporators in the 165-member civic body. NCP won 27 seats, followed by Congress with 15 seats. NCP (SP) has three corporators. Shiv Sena could not open its account, while Shiv Sena (UBT) managed to get one seat.
