UP: Mayors sworn in amidst show of strength, ruckus and sloganeering - Hindustan Times
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UP: Mayors sworn in amidst show of strength, ruckus and sloganeering

Hindustan Times, Lucknow | By, Lucknow
Dec 13, 2017 11:47 AM IST

Several UP ministers and BJP leaders participate in swearing in of party’s 14 mayors; in Aligarh ‘Allah-O-Akbar’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans rent the air; ruckus in Meerut.

The newly-elected mayors of 16 cities – 14 of BJP and two BSP – and corporators of all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh were sworn in on Tuesday amid show of strength, ruckus and shouting of ‘Allah-O-Akbar’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

Several Uttar Pradesh ministers and BJP leaders participated in the swearing-in ceremony of the party’s 14 mayors, who won on BJP ticket in the recently concluded civic elections in Uttar Pradesh.(HT Photo)
Several Uttar Pradesh ministers and BJP leaders participated in the swearing-in ceremony of the party’s 14 mayors, who won on BJP ticket in the recently concluded civic elections in Uttar Pradesh.(HT Photo)

Several Uttar Pradesh ministers and BJP leaders participated in the swearing-in ceremony of the party’s 14 mayors, who won on BJP ticket in the recently concluded civic elections in Uttar Pradesh.

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Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, along with union minister Santosh Gangwar, were present for the swearing in ceremony of Bareilly mayor Umesh Gautam, the chancellor of a private university.

The other deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, along with ministers Suresh Khanna, Ashutosh Tandon ‘Gopal’ and Rajesh Agarwal, attended the swearing in ceremony of Lucknow mayor and BJP veteran Sanyukta Bhatia.

Ruckus broke out during the swearing-in ceremony of mayor of Meerut as BJP corporators and the Bahujan Samaj Party leaders clashed.

While the BSP corporators shouted ‘Jai Bheem’, the BJP corporators shouted ‘Modi Modi’.

Things got rough when the newly-elected BSP mayor Sunita Verma, did not stand up for the national song ‘Vande Mataram’. She later relented as the BJP corporators tried to disrupt the proceedings.

In Aligarh, the oath-taking ceremony of mayor Mohd Furqan took place amidst slogans of ‘Allah-O-Akbar’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

There were also charges of insulting national song Vande Matram. A section of corporators also raised slogans,”Bharat me rahna hai to Vande Matram kahna hai.”

The ceremony started with singing of Vande Matram but some Muslim members did not stand up though Furqan stood up. The BJP members, including Aligarh City MLA Sanjiv Raja complained in this regard to administrative officials and also chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Aligarh district magistrate Rishikesh Bhaskar said “The facts will be ascertained through video footage during an inquiry.”

In Lucknow mayor Sanyukta Bhatia said, “I would strive to improve civic amenities of the city. My focus will be cleanliness and door to door garbage collection.”

Navin Jain, the mayor of Agra, pledged to do everything to change the profile of the Taj city. Jain said he would also try to resolve Agra’s long-pending problems, including speeding up of the Gangajal project. As the river Yamuna has gone dry, water will be brought through a pipeline from a canal of the Ganga in Bulandshahar district, he said.

BJP mayors who took oath of office were: Sanyukta Bhatia (Lucknow), Mridula Jaiswal (Varanasi), Abhilasha Gupta (Allahabad), Pramila Pandey (Kanpur), Sitaram Jaiswal (Gorakhpur), Navin Jain (Agra), Nutan Rathore (Firozabad), Mukesh Arya (Mathura), Umesh Gautam (Bareilly), Asha Sharma (Ghaziabad), Vinod Agarwal (Moradabad), Sanjiv Walia (Saharanpur), Ram Tirath Singhal (Jhansi) and Rishikesh Upadhyaya (Ayodhya-Faizabad).

BSP mayors sworn in were: Mohd Furqan (Aligarh) and Sunita Verma (Meerut).

(With inputs from agencies)

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Anupam Srivastava is a Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times, Lucknow. Has produced exclusive stories in medical, civil aviation, civic, political and other issues for over 20 years.

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