Race for heads of nagar councils, panchayats gains momentum

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 19

The race for the posts of president of three nagar panchayats and two nagar councils have gained momentum pace with the nagar panchayat of Ajnala going to witness a close contest between the Congress and the SAD.

Selecting a leader to head the Ajnala nagar panchayat will be the proverbial hot potato as the one ward lead of the SAD could be nullified with one vote from Ajnala constituency’s Congress MLA Harpratap Singh Ajnala. The SAD won eight out of 15 wards and the Congress managed to win the remaining seven wards. Despite repeated attempts to contact the MLA for his comments, he could not be reached.

As the Congress received a clear majority in Jandiala, Ramdas and Rayya, leaders and party insiders said now the sitting MLAs’ say would be crucial in deciding heads of these civic bodies. After the swearing-in ceremony, the members could forward their consent to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to take a final call on selecting the leader to head these civic bodies. Going by the precedent, he is likely to empower the MLA of these areas to decide on the candidates to head these bodies, a senior Congress leader said.

In the Jandiala municipal council, where Congress won 10 out of 15 wards, there are many claimants for the post like Sanjiv Kumar Lovely and Nirmal Singh Loharia and in case the post of president is reserved then Dimple Kaur will be a strong claimant.

Narinder Kalia, former head of the Rayya nagar panchayat where Congress swept 12 out of 13 wares, is a strong contestant for the post. Similarly, Aman Sharma, daughter-in-law of former head of the nagar panchayat KK Sharma, who is considered a close aide of Baba Bakala MLA Santokh Singh Bhalaipur, as Rayya falls under Baba Bakala assembly constituency, is another strong contestant. The name of Amarjeet Kaur, wife of Gurkanwal Mann, PA of Bhalaipur, is also doing the rounds.

Similarly, in the Ramdas nagar panchayat, some leaders are lobbying for the president’s post where the Congress won eight wards while three went to SAD.

Though the names of Tarun Abrol, Salwant Seth and Narinder Nayyar are doing the rounds for the post of president of the Majitha municipal council, it is an open secret that there will be no questioning the name announced by senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is a sitting MLA from Majitha, as SAD grabbed 10 out of 13 wards of the Mahitha municipal council.

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