Shimla, May 31: Congress councillors under Kasumpti MLA Anirudh Singh on Wednesday created a ruckus in the General House of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, seeking removal of Mayor Kusum Sadret and Deputy Mayor Rakesh Sharma. They staged a walkout, blaming the BJP for the ongoing water crisis here.
The councillors sat on a dharna at the Talland junction on the circular road, bringing traffic to a halt for 30 minutes. They raised anti-CM and anti-Mayor slogans, saying that the Mayor had been in China for a week while the residents were reeling under the worst-ever water crisis.
According to source, the councillors had planned a no-confident motion against the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. But the BJP planned a countermove and the party issued a whip, directing them to leave the House before such motion was moved in.
As per the BJP’s game plan, of the 19 councillors, 17 were present. They disappeared from the House when the Congress councillors were staging a dharna in the floor of the House.
Congress has 14 councillors while one councillor is from the CPM. There were talks that the motion would pass as certain members of the anti-Mayor group in the BJP would vote for the motion on the water crisis to avoid the public ire, revealed insiders. The Congress said the Mayor had no moral authority to be in office.
CPM councillor Shelly Sharma, who also joined the chakka jam with the Congress councillors, said many areas in 34 wards were not getting water even after nine days and the distribution system had collapsed.
They also charged that the MC shifted the meeting from Bachat Bhawan to Palika Sadan at the last moment as part of the BJP’s strategy to thwart Congress game plan.
The BJP government and the MC had failed to provide water to the residents. The Mayor should quit now, Anirudh Singh said after the walkout. On the other hand, Deputy Mayor Sharma, who chaired the meeting in the absence of the Mayor, said the House was adjourned. MC Commissioner Rohit Jamwal was also present.
Source Tribune India
