17 councillors want Patiala Mayor removed, meet Brahm Mohindra

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 14

Seventeen councillors of the Municipal Corporation (MC) from the Patiala (Urban) Assembly constituency today submitted a memorandum to Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra demanding removal of Mayor Sanjeev Kumar Sharma.

During the day, a number of councillors also met MP Preneet Kaur and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh at his Siswan farmhouse and later submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in Chandigarh.

The melee over the mayorship has failed to die down nine days after Ghanaur MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur kicked up a row when he said the Patiala Mayor could be changed. Later, 25 councillors from the Patiala (Rural) constituency decided to accept any decision taken by the minister in this regard.

Today, 17 councillors from Patiala (Urban), including Harvinder Singh Nippi, Krishan Chand Budhu, Yoginder Singh Yogi and Naresh Duggal, submitted an undertaking to Mohindra demanding removal of the Mayor. Duggal alleged, “We have demanded that a meeting of the House should be convened. The Mayor should be removed for anti-party activities.”

Mohindra said, “Seventeen councillors from Patiala (Urban) have demanded in writing that the Mayor be changed through a meeting of the House. A meeting on the matter will be held with councillors from Patiala (Rural) tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, councillors from Patiala (Urban) met Preneet Kaur and Capt Amarinder Singh at their farmhouse in the afternoon. Mayor Sanjeev Kumar Sharma claimed, “As many as 25 councillors from Patiala (Urban), along with other senior Congress leadership of Patiala, met the MP and the former CM. Later, we also submitted a memorandum to CM Charanjit Singh Channi to fast-track the pending project of shifting of dairies. He gave a positive response.”

Sharma said no discussion took place for a change in the mayorship. About councillors’ demands, he said, “Some councillors are against the dairy shifting and other projects and thus, talking about my removal though they have worked with me for four years.”

Legal process

If two-thirds of the councillors state that they have lost confidence in the Mayor, a meeting of the House is called. In case the Mayor fails to call a meeting, the two-thirds of the councillors elect a member to chair the meeting. A decision is arrived at in such a meeting.