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Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 21
The city is all set to get its new mayor on January 25 this year as the Divisional Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhary will preside over the oath-taking ceremony of new councillors at the Municipal Corporation office. Along with the Mayor, the Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor will also be elected on the same day.
Congress MLA Rajinder Beri said a majority of the cadre has approved the name of Congress leader Jagdish Raja as the city mayor who was earlier the leader of opposition in the last General House. “For the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, I have proposed the name of four-time councillor Surinder Kaur and for the post of Deputy Mayor Harsimran Bunty’s name has been proposed,” said Beri.
Beri had been been a staunch supporter of Raja since beginning. While assumptions were made in the beginning that the city might get its first woman mayor after Beri and Congres MLA Sushil Rinku fielded their respective wives in the municipal elections, Beri refuted the claim and said only Raja will be appointed as Mayor under the Congress regime.
Sources have also claimed while Rinku had named his wife Sunita Rinku for the post of mayor, he too later withdrew her name after the Congress leader Rana Gurjit resigned from his post recently.
Speculations are rife that after sacrificing his wife’s claim for the post of Mayor, Rinku is eying a cabinet post in the incumbent Congress government. However, despite repeated attempts, Rinku could not be contacted for his comments.
While the names of many other leaders including Balraj Thakur and Surinder Kaur too were doing the rounds for the post of Mayor, Thakur who was backed by Congress MLA Pargat Singh is reported to be out of the race after a majority had endorsed the names of Raja for the coveted post.
Meanwhile, playing the Dalit and the women empowerment card at the same time, Congress may announce Surinder Kaur as the Senior Deputy Mayor and Bunty, a close aide of Sushil Rinku, as the Deputy Mayor.
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