'Good luck' councillors, says Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu after resuming work

Charanjit Singh Teja

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Amritsar, March 1

The Congress councillors claimed that they were ready for the floor test to remove Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu, but he joined office on Tuesday and even met councillors and officials who had signed application to replace him. Not only this, he even had tea with them.

We are taking a legal opinion on whether to call the special meeting for the floor test or not as the Model Code of Conduct is in force. I don’t have any objection on calling the meeting. I would say good luck to the Congress councillors who want to remove me.— Karamjit Singh Rintu, Mayor

Rintu joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before the elections and it was the first time when he came to the office after poll.

As many as 53 Congress councillors had signed a letter and submitted it to the MC Commissioner to conduct a floor test. The Congress councillors led by Senior Deputy Mayor Raman Bakshi and Deputy Mayor Younas Kumar had claimed that they had the mandatory two-third majority to replace the Mayor. There were speculations that Rintu would resign from the post of Mayor after defecting into the AAP.

After joining office Rintu ended the speculations of resigning. He said: “I will decide about the post of Mayor after March 10. The Congress doesn’t have a majority to remove me from the post.”

According to information, there are some Congress councillors, who are waiting for the Assembly election result, which would be declared on March 10. “More Congress councillors will leave the party and join AAP, which will form the state government. It will not be easy to replace the Mayor,” a councillor said.

Now, it has become a major challenge for the Congress leadership to call a House meeting before the Assembly election result. The MC officials claimed that the Mayor was the competent authority to call the General House meeting. In his absence, senior Deputy Mayor can call the same. But in this case, the Mayor is available and no one else can call the House meeting.

However, Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu has to call the Budget meeting of the General House in the end of March. Rintu said: “We are taking a legal opinion on whether to call the special meeting for the floor test as the Model Code of Conduct is in force. I don’t have any objection on calling the meeting. I would say good luck to the Congress councillors who want to remove me.”