120 sitting councillors hold a three-hour long closed-door meeting to discuss their political future; some suggest floating a new party
Dissidence is brewing in the state BJP, with around 120 of its sitting councillors in no mood to follow the party directions to not contest in the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Delhi. In the 272 wards of the three municipal bodies in the Capital, the BJP has 153 councillors.
Sources said the disgruntled councillors held a three-hour long closed-door meeting in the Civic Centre, headquarters of north and south municipal bodies, to chalk out their future course of action. There are indications that these councillors might join hands to form a new party to take on the BJP, the Congress and the AAP in the civic polls.
Sources said all three mayors, Shyam Sharma, Dr Sanjiv Nayyar and Satya Sharma, Leaders of the House in north and east corporations Vijay Prakash Pandey and Sanjay Jain, and Standing Committee Chairmen Shailender Singh Monti, Pravesh Wahi and Jitender Chaudhary were the most vocal among all the councillors
Since the BJP has decided to neither field their councillors nor their relatives in the civic polls, a large number of sitting lawmakers are said to have contacted the AAP and Congress, which reportedly told them it was not in a position to give them party tickets as it would hamper their campaign against the non-performance of the municipal bodies for 10 successive years in Delhi. Though the BJP is yet to come out with its list of candidates, the AAP has already declared 162 of the 172 candidates. The Congress is going to finalise its first list in the next two days.
A councillor from North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) said they received a call from the Leader of the House in the morning, asking to attend the meeting.
"After reaching the meeting, we came to know about its purpose. The options available to sitting BJP councillors, after the party denied tickets to us, were discussed," he said.
Sharing details of the meeting, a councillor said it was unanimously decided that they will approach the party central leadership to reconsider the decision to deny tickets to all sitting councillors. "Several councillors also suggested floating a new party," he said.
After the meeting, all the councillors tried to meet Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, but failed to get their time due to the ongoing Parliament session and other prior commitments.
Later in the day, they met three core committee members of the Delhi BJP and Union Minister Vijay Goel, Lok Sabha member Pravesh Verma and Maheish Girri and requested to convey their sentiments. A councillor said they assured that their sentiments would be conveyed to the central leadership.
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