Mayor, legislator’s rivalry puts development on back burner

The cities which do not have a stable political climate do not expand. And the cities which do not expand often die. This, in essence, sums up the state of affairs of this once scenic town as it has a BJP Mayor and a Congress MLA, a development which has put a question mark on its political equilibrium. 

For the past few months, both have been at loggerheads, not because of differences of opinion as far as their political ideology is concerned, but because both nurse massive egos. If Mayor Anil Vasudeva, a former Improvement Trust chairman, points towards the north, legislator Amit Vij, a former Reliance executive, is left with no option except to point south. This means that developmental initiatives are suffering in a big way. Civic amenities, be it roads or the sewerage, have been consigned to the backburner.  Vasudeva brings in a lot of experience to his post while Vij brims with youthful exuberance. However, all these qualities hold no value for the residents as both fail to see eye to eye on almost everything under the sun.

Interestingly, when the SAD-BJP combine was in power from 2012-17, the city had Anil Vij, a Congress man as the president of the Municipal Committee, while Ashwani Sharma, a BJP man, was the legislator. Pathankot never had it so bad!

On many occasions, efforts have been made by some Good Samaritans to ensure both of them come on a single platform. Such experiments lasted, at the most, for a week.

Once the Mayor was attacked by paperweights and crockery pieces by some Congress councillors during a MC General House meeting. He was quick to blame the MLA. The MLA, in turn, shifted the responsibility to the Mayor. A perfect case of the pot calling the kettle black!

“In almost every General House meeting held till yet, Congress councillors have created trouble at the behest of the MLA. He should understand that developmental works are suffering. This in turn becomes a cause of concern for the taxpaying residents,” avers Vasudeva.

To this, Amit Vij retorts, “Let the Mayor first put his house in order. I have brought in the multi-crore Pepsi bottling project which will give employment to hundreds of city youth. On the other hands, the Mayor has brought only one thing — chaos.”

The joke doing the rounds is that both are great fighters in their own respective ways, but the problem is that instead of fighting for the rights of the residents, they spend most of the time fighting each other. A bit akin to the Pakistani cricket team!