More differences have erupted in the state's ruling alliance, where already the two partners don't have a common opinion on many issues.
After wilful absence from the municipal corporation proceedings for over a month, senior deputy mayor Kamaljeet Singh Bhatia of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) shot a letter to the municipal commissioner on Wednesday, showing his annoyance with the alleged autocratic style of functioning of Bharatiya Janata Party mayor Sunil Jyoti. In the three-page letter, Bhatia has mentioned the moments when the mayor let him down and ignored him.
"I have sent the letter to the commissioner today after discussing the matter with the party high-command," said Bhatia. "It is not the first time that it has happened to me. In the past also, twice my grudges were resolved in meetings between senior leaders of both sides. The mayor promised to cooperate every time but forgot, later," he added.
It wasn't just the question of differences with the BJP, said Bhatia, adding that he was against only the style of functioning of the mayor, "due to which, corruption, lawlessness and vandalism were on increase in the MC". "For more than a month, I am not attending any proceedings of the MC. I have boycotted the functioning totally," Bhatia further said.
Bhatia also raised the issue of the santation workers' vandalising his office. "Why no action has been taken, so far, against the culprits?" he asked, adding: Had it been done to the office of the mayor or municipal commissioner, the MC would have followed a different approach." "Illegal buildings are mushrooming in the city in connivance with the MC officials," he said, adding: "The MC has failed to take any action against the defaulters."
{{/usCountry}}Bhatia also raised the issue of the santation workers' vandalising his office. "Why no action has been taken, so far, against the culprits?" he asked, adding: Had it been done to the office of the mayor or municipal commissioner, the MC would have followed a different approach." "Illegal buildings are mushrooming in the city in connivance with the MC officials," he said, adding: "The MC has failed to take any action against the defaulters."
{{/usCountry}}He recalled that on the recent visit of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to the city, only seven councillors from the ruling alliance were present at an inauguration. "It shows what is wrong with the mayor's style of functioning. He has the habit of ignoring others," Bhatia alleged. Former Shiromani Akali Dal district president GS Channi denied their was any fissure in the alliance.
"Bhatia conveyed his grudges to me and I forwarded the matter to the party high command," he said, hopeful that the matter would be sorted out.
Deputy mayor Arvinder Kaur Oberoi, who also is from the SAD, reacted by saying that sh also had raised some issues in the past. "The MC replied to me with details and I am studying those. I will go with the party-high-command directions in the case of differences between the mayor and and the senior deputy mayor," she said. Mayor Sunil Jyoti was unavailable for comments, even after repeated attempts to contact him.