SAD, BJP still at loggerheads over Rajpura MC chief post
Friday, 15/05/2015
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PATIALA: Two months on, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have failed to break the deadlock over elections for the post of the president of the Rajpura municipal committee.
Due to internal fracas between coalition partners, the elections have been postponed three times since March 20.
The BJP has been representing the committee for the past several years, but now the SAD has pitched in to make their councillor president this time after getting support from Independent candidates, while the BJP is reluctant to leave the post. Even, the district administration is helpless in conducting the elections and postponed it citing law and order problem.
In the 29-member Rajpura municipal committee, the BJP won 11 of 29 total seats, while the SAD bagged nine seats. The Independents won five seats and the Congress won only four seats. The high commands of both the parties are aware of the matter, but have failed to resolve it.
During the meeting of the Pepsu Townships Development Board (PTDB) last month, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal assured former BJP MLA Raj Khurana and others the issue would be solved, to no avail.
The local leaders of both the parties discussed and held several sessions to solve the issue amicably but failed to do so after SAD senior leaders, including Anandpur MP Prem Chandumajra and district incharge Deepinder Singh Dhillon are adamant over not leaving the top post for its coalition partner.
The SAD leader believed that the chairmanship of the Improvement Trust and the Market Committee is with the BJP, therefore they are claiming the committee president’s post.
BJP state secretary Ram Kumar Pathi said they are ready for the elections, but SAD leaders are creating unnecessary hurdles and staking claim for the president’s post without any justification.
In response, SAD district president Deepinder Singh Dhillon claims , “After getting support from five of independent councillors, we have now 14 seats, while BJP has 11 only. Workers want a SAD chief this time.”
