Holy city gets its eighth Mayor

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 23

With the Congress nominating Karamjit Singh Rintu for the top post of the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar has got its first Sikh Mayor.

The elections to the first MC House were held in 1991. The first Mayor of the city was Om Prakash Soni. Rintu has become the eighth Mayor of the city.

The post of Mayor is considered as a launching pad for state and national politics. It is evident from the example of three former Mayors — five-time MLA Om Prakash Soni, Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik and MLA Sunil Dutti — who are now established figures in state politics.

Though the government had issued a notification to reserve 50 per cent seats for woman councillors, no one was selected for the top posts of the civic body.

The name of Mamta Dutta, who is the president of the Congress women wing, was doing the rounds for the top post earlier.

But her supporters were a dejected lot after she was not selected for any top post of the civic body.

It seems that the Congress has given a fair representation to the Hindu and Dalits as Raman Bakshi and Younis were nominated for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively.