Race for Gurgaon mayor intensifies within party

The Gurgaon MP ensured that six independents join the BJP and is likely to push for his candidate Madhu Azad as Gurgaon Mayor.

The fight of the post of mayor and other two posts is likely to intensify within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Gurgaon Parliamentarian Rao Inderjit Singh on Wednesday said the post should go to a candidate who won from party symbol.

MCG office at Sector 34 in Gurgaon. (HT File)

He said that mayor should be chosen by the winning councillors thus sending a strong message to his political rivals within the party, who are vying to get their own candidate to the top post.

The fight for the mayoral candidate can be gauged by the fact that one of the candidates, who had joined the BJP during the afternoon and was on way to meet the party brass, including party general secretary Anil Jain suddenly alighted from the car at India Gate and did not meet the BJP leaders in Delhi.

Sources said Navin Dahiya, who won as independent from Sector 12 did not meet the party leadership in Delhi and this could be at the instance of the opposing camp led by Narbir Singh.

In 2011, Inderjit Singh had managed to outsmart his rivals in Congress and managed to get Vimal Yadav elected as Gurgaon mayor.

Although this post is mostly titular in the current municipal system but still it carries a very strong symbolic importance as to who is the political boss in Gurgaon, and south Haryana.

The Gurgaon MP ensured that six independents join the BJP and is likely to push for his candidate Madhu Azad as Gurgaon Mayor.

In comparison, the rival group led by Badshahpur MLA and PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh is likely to get five independents into the BJP fold, which will take the party tally to 25 and ensure that there is a tough contest to chose the mayoral candidates. Narbir Singh has the support of five party candidates, and six independents.

“The candidate who won from party ticket should be elected as the mayor,” Inderjit Singh said.

Around 13 MCG councillors owe allegiance to Inderjit Singh and they include Rimple Yadav, Ravinder Yadav, Madhu Azad, Ashwani Sharma, Arti Yadav, Sunita Yadav, Ashawani Sharma, and Kapil Dua, Dinesh Saini, Rajni Sahni, Sunita Yadav, Sunita Rani and Kuldeep Bohra.

The opposite camp in the BJP led by Badshahpur MLA has the support of Mithlesh Kumari, Shakuntla Yadav, Sanjay Kumar, Dharambir, Sunil Kumar, and Pravin Lata, Sheetal Bagri Brham Prakash Yadav, Kusum Yadav, Kuldip Yadav and Subash Singla.

Apart from them there are one or two more candidates, who owe allegiance to this camp but have not come out openly in support of either.

Sources said a few winners also owe allegiance to Gurgaon MLA Umesh Agarwal, and a couple to BJP leader Sudha Yadav could also play an important role in the final decision.