Chandigarh Set for Advancement Under New Mayor: BJP

Chandigarh, Jan 30 (NationPress) Chandigarh BJP leader, Sanjay Tandon, on Thursday, congratulated the newly elected party’s Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla, expressing confidence that her leadership would drive the city towards enhanced development.

Tandon emphasized that her victory as a BJP-backed candidate is a testament to the public’s trust and the effectiveness of the party’s policies.

He reiterated that the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will be pivotal in realizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for a prosperous India.

Tandon underscored that initiatives such as the cleanliness drive and the direct execution of Central government schemes position the city for swift advancement.

He also mentioned the Central government’s unwavering commitment to Chandigarh’s growth, ensuring that residents will directly gain from these initiatives.

Tandon pointed out that during the previous AAP-led mayoral leadership, the city's progress had stalled, and numerous Central initiatives had failed to gain traction.

With a BJP-supported mayor now leading, he promised that these schemes would be implemented without delay, and additional financial resources would be pursued from the Central government to expedite Chandigarh’s progress.

Following the INDIA Bloc's partners Congress and AAP experiencing a significant defeat regarding the Chandigarh mayoral position despite holding a majority over the main opposition BJP, the latter accused its partners of engaging in cross-voting.

Senior AAP leader and spokesperson Neel Garg claimed that Congress councillors participated in cross-voting, which resulted in the election of BJP's Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla, who replaced AAP's Kuldeep Kumar.

Harpreet Kaur won against AAP's Prem Lata by a margin of two votes. The latter secured 17 votes. In the 36-member House, the AAP-Congress coalition consists of 19 councillors (13 from AAP and 6 from Congress), while the BJP holds 16 votes.

One vote was contributed by Congress MP Manish Tewari, an ex-officio member of the corporation, bringing their total to 20. However, Congress candidates from the INDIA Bloc, Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta, were elected as Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Chandigarh, respectively, each obtaining 19 votes.

AAP's Neel Garg expressed that the Congress councillors have betrayed them.

"The Congress and the BJP are secretly colluding. This incident has made it abundantly clear. Both parties are two sides of the same coin," he told the media.

He warned the public against trusting Congress, arguing that if individuals vote for it, their councillors would later support the BJP, asserting that Congress would behave similarly in Delhi.

"There, too, they will ultimately support the BJP. Hence, voting for Congress equates to wasting one's vote," he stated.

Garg noted that Aam Aadmi Party councillors supported the Congress. Their Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor were elected with AAP votes.

"But they have betrayed us," he added.

Prior to the election, Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat defected to the BJP. However, BJP's Punjab spokesperson, Pritpal Singh Baliawal, indicated that by securing the mayoral position, the BJP has unveiled the Congress-AAP alliance, demonstrating that both parties are internally united while misleading the public.

Baliawal asserted that even though the people of Punjab assisted Congress in winning seven seats during the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-AAP alliance is now "exposed" to the public.

He predicted that this would significantly influence the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. He also recalled that Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had declared during the Amritsar mayoral elections that, despite the Congress and AAP being part of the INDIA bloc at the national level, the Congress shares no past, present, or future ties with AAP.