Akali Dal leader loses nagar panchayat post

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, April 27

The president of Bariwala nagar panchayat, Rajinder Gung of the Shiromani Akali Dal, was today removed from his post. His own party men had passed a no-confidence motion against him for anti-party activities.

The Bariwala nagar panchayat has 11 members — all belonging to the SAD. Seven of them had moved a no-confidence motion against Gung.

Gung was given 14 days to call a meeting of the House and prove his majority, but he failed to do so.

Notably, Gung and three other members of the nagar panchayat had campaigned in favour of SAD rebel-cum-Independent candidate Sukhdarshan Singh Mrar in the recently held Vidhan Sabha elections. The remaining seven members were in favour of party candidate Kanwarjit Singh ‘Rozy Barkandi’ who is now the Muktsar MLA.

Ravi Kumar, executive officer, Bariwala nagar panchayat, said, “A meeting of the House was called today in the presence of SDM Muktsar wherein a majority of members in the presence of the local MLA removed the president from his post. Now, Maya Devi, vice-president, has been given the charge of acting president.”

Rajinder Gung said, “Due to some personal reasons, I lent support to Mrar in the Assembly elections. So some members passed a no-confidence motion against me. However, I have no grudge against anyone.” Gung had become president on July 13, 2012.

Those who voted against Gung included MLA Kanwarjit Singh ‘Rozy Barkandi’, members Maya Devi, Charan Dass, Baljinder Singh, Sandeep Kaur, Kamla Devi, Usha Rani and Om Parkash.