Chandigarh: The drama in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) is far from over. In the latest move, two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors who had defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month returned to the party fold on Saturday (March 9).
The move changed the numbers game in 35-member Chandigarh MC in favour of the INDIA bloc AAP-Congress alliance, which had earlier been left a disadvantage despite their mayor being reinstated by the Supreme Court.
Kuldeep Kumar was declared the validly elected Chandigarh mayor on February 21 in a historic Supreme Court judgement, which reversed the outcome of the rigged mayoral elections decided fraudulently in favour of the BJP candidate by presiding officer Anil Masih, now facing SC-monitored criminal proceedings.
Despite this, members of the AAP-Congress alliance were worried that the rival BJP could unseat their mayor any time after the Lok Sabha election because defection by three AAP councillors had tilted the MC majority in favour of the saffron party.
The BJP poached these AAP councillors before the SC order in the hope that it case of a fresh mayoral election, it could come up the winner. But the apex court reinstated the INDIA bloc candidate, catching the BJP by surprise and also leaving it humiliated since the guilty presiding officer was a BJP appointee.
The BJP did get some poll advantage from the AAP defectors as it won re-election on the post of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor on March 4. But it is no longer in a commanding position.
The scale now favours the INDIA block as two AAP councillors – Poonam and Neha – took AAP membership again on Saturday.
Councillor Neha said in a statement shared by AAP with the media that while living together, discords occur. The same thing happened here between the party and her. But now she has decided to forget this and return home. Councillor Poonam said that now she has no problem and she is very happy to return to the party.
While they could not be reached for fresh comments on Sunday, their return has nonetheless put the AAP-Congress alliance in a comfortable position.
As per the latest numbers, AAP now has 12 councillors while the Congress has seven. Together, the two parties have 19 councillors, more than required number for a majority in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.
Both councillors rejoined AAP in the presence of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s OSD Rajbir Singh Ghumman and Aam Aadmi Party Chandigarh co-incharge Sunny Singh Ahluwalia.
Talking to The Wire, AAP’s former Chandigarh incharge Prem Garg said that the party welcomed both the councillors after they realised their mistake and agreed to return to the party unconditionally.
“INDIA bloc will do everything to improve the lives of Chandigarh’s people,” he said.
Meanwhile, the third AAP councillor who jumped ship, Gurcharan Singh Kala, is still with the BJP. AAP sources said he is being pursued to return as well.
