Saturday morning is a going to be a crucial one for the Gujarat Congress as the first board meeting of the newly elected Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation will be held to decide on the crucial posts of mayor, deputy mayor, standing committee chairperson and the leader of opposition.
Saturday morning is a going to be a crucial one for the Gujarat Congress as the first board meeting of the newly elected Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation will be held to decide on the crucial posts of mayor, deputy mayor, standing committee chairperson and the leader of opposition.
While the party seems to be all geared up to appoint the mayor, the BJP's efforts to ensure that they don't succeed continued as late as Friday evening.
If sources in the Congress are to be believed, the BJP's efforts to wean away Congress corporators from the party by offering them money and other incentives continued until the very last hour.
However, sources claim none of the corporators has shifted loyalty and it will be difficult for BJP to appoint its candidate as the mayor. Nevertheless, they also cautioned that anything could happen at the last moment.
Therefore, the meeting on Saturday is likely to be a stormy one, to say the least. Even as the Congress is fighting to retain the loyalties of its 18 corporators, lobbying within the party is hotting up for the top posts.
The three names doing the rounds, if the mayor is indeed from the Congress, are those of Mahendrasinh Jhala, Yusuf Parmar and BJP turncoat Pravin Patel. State party president Arjun Modhwadia and leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil are expected to take a call on the final candidate.
If the Congress succeeds in appointing its mayor, it would be a big coup for the party, which has been hit by the onslaught of BJP's efforts to make the corporators turn their loyalties towards installing a BJP candidate as mayor.
To reinstate their faith in the party, corporators were even sent on a four-day tour of Delhi to meet senior leader like Sonia Gandhi.
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