Revolt in BJP, once again

Ramkrishan  Upadhyay     

Tribune News Service   

Chandigarh, January 14   

Once again, a revolt in the city BJP came to the fore as one  of its  councillors, Satish  Kainth, filed papers for the post of Mayor as an Independent. Kainth was miffed at the party high command for fielding Rajesh Kalia for the post. 

Another BJP aspirant, Farmila, supported  Kainth  and seconded  his name, which was  proposed  by Independent councillor Dalip  Sharma. 

The row ensued the announcement of the candidature of Kalia by BJP organisation secretary Dinesh Kumar  and city MP Kirron Kher. Hardeep  Singh, who belongs to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has been fielded for the post of the Senior Deputy  Mayor, while Kanwarjeet    Singh of the BJP will contest for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This  time, the  BJP  has left the  post of the Senior Deputy Mayor for the SAD. 

While Dinesh Kumar  was announcing names of the candidates at a press  conference at  the party office in the city,  both Kainth and Farmila  had left the venue  in protest. Later, when all candidates filed their  nomination papers, both Kainth and  Farmila  were    absent. 

Kainth  filed his papers around  4.30 pm,   leaving senior  leaders baffled. A   day before declaring the candidates, Dinesh Kumar had held a one-on-one meeting  with all councillors  and submitted a report in this regard to the party high command. The party decided to field Kalia despite opposition from many councillors during the meeting. But he emerged as a unanimous  choice  of  Kher and Tandon.

 This is the  second  consecutive year when the party faced a  revolt  over the selection of the candidate for the mayoral elections. Last year,  Asha Jaswal  had filed papers   after the party   announced the candidature of Davesh  Moudgil. Jaswal withdrew  her nomination papers at the last   moment after a lot of  persuasion.  

Of 26 votes in the MC House, the BJP has 20. The Congress has four votes while the SAD and Independent councillors have one vote each. Due to the revolt in the party, the BJP will have to prevent cross-voting. 

Against politics of caste: Rebels  

BJP councillors Satish Kainth and  Farmila, who revolted  against the party choice, alleged that  instead  of  selecting the candidate on the basis  of merit, party leaders   promoted casteism. Farmila  said  this was a new  trend,  which she  opposed  strongly.

Kainth said the majority view  was  ignored by the party. He said there were other candidates who enjoyed support of many councillors but were ignored.