Gurgaon civic polls: BJP loses out on the post of senior deputy mayor due to infighting

Congress-backed Kablana secured the votes of 23 of the 35 councillors, while BJP has 26 councillors in the house. Her husband Gaje Singh Kablana, a former councillor, is a Congress leader.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a setback on Friday as the post of the senior deputy mayor of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram was bagged by Pramila Devi Kablana, an independent candidate backed by Congress, due to cross-voting.

Newly elected mayor Madhu Azad (L) takes the blessings of Rao Inderjit Singh (second from left) in the presence of Rao Narbir Singh (R) and other party members. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

Kablana secured the votes of 23 of the 35 councillors, while BJP has 26 councillors in the house. Her husband Gaje Singh Kablana, a former councillor, is a Congress leader.

Senior BJP leaders attributed the loss of the seat to infighting among the party cadres. BJP candidates had secured 14 seats in the polls and 12 independent candidates joined the party later.

Besides the setback to the party, the mayoral election held on Friday at John Hall in Civil Lines strengthened the position of Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh, who had played a pivotal role in the 2011 MCG elections as well.

Inderjit supported the candidature of Madhu Azad, BJP councillor from Ward 7, for the post of mayor, which was reserved for a woman from the Scheduled Caste (SC).

Azad had contested on a party ticket while a senior BJP leader in Gurgaon was reportedly backing Sheetal Bagri, who rebelled and contested as an independent candidate, for the post of mayor. Bagri was ousted from the party along with 23 other members on September 17, a week before the MCG elections.

Deputy mayor Sunita Yadav is also considered to be from Inderjit’s camp, as he supported her name. Sunita’s husband Anil Yadav, a BJP leader, was close to PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh but reportedly became close to Inderjit a few days before elections, a source in Gurgaon’s BJP unit said.

Party sources said a senior leader was adamant on getting his candidate elected as senior deputy mayor and in the absence of a consensus, the post went to a Congress-backed councillor.

“We had the majority in the house but lost one seat due to some political reasons. There were issues in ticket distribution also. The party will analyse what has happened,” Rao Narbir Singh said after the results were declared on Friday.

Rao Inderjit Singh also said the party will analyse the developments but refused to comment further on the issue.

Inderjit had played a crucial role in 2011 when he garnered the support of 25 independent councillors for forming the house and electing a mayor. The majority of those councillors and the mayor later joined the BJP.

“There have been some issues that are being looked into. The party will take stock of it and analyse how an independent candidate won when the party has the majority in the house,” said Raman Malik, spokesperson for Haryana BJP.