Sujanpur MC: Jolt for Congress as councillors cross over to AAP

Ravi Dhaliwal

Sujanpur (Pathankot),

May 24

The Congress suffered a massive blow in the Sujanpur Municipal Council (MC) when seven of its nine councillors, including the president and vice-president, crossed over to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

There were rumours in the last few days that the Congress was in for a “high-voltage shock” as was being termed by some councillors. However, no clarity emerged till today morning when the defections officially took place.

In the erstwhile Municipal Council, nine of the 15 wards were represented by Congress councillors.

It is learnt that Cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak played a crucial role in the defections. He is an MLA from the neighbouring assembly seat of Bhoa. Interestingly, one of Sujanpur’s 15 wards falls in the assembly segment of the minister. By virtue of this, he has a vote in the MC. This, for all practical purposes, means AAP has eight votes in the MC. “That is why he showed a lot of interest in toppling the Congress dispensation. He had been active in the area for the last few days and he played a pivotal role in convincing the Congress councillors to join the AAP ranks,” said a sitting councillor.

The Congress councillors who have shifted to AAP are the MC incumbent president Anuradha Bali, vice-president Surinder Manhas, Mahinder Bali, Saroj Bala, Pushpa Devi, Ramesh Chander and Lakshmi Verma. The Congress, which was in a majority, has now been reduced to a mere two councillors.

Anuradha Bali, who is a three-time councillor, will remain the president. She is the wife of Mahinder Bali who is also a three-time councillor. Likewise, Surinder Manhas will stay as the vice-president.

At present, seven councillors are with AAP, six with the BJP and two with the Congress. Today’s development is seen as a major setback to the sitting MLA of Congress, Naresh Puri.

“The AAP is the ruling party in the state. Now, we are in a position to get more funds from the state government which will benefit the entire city,” said an AAP councillor.