Post civic polls, murmurs of horse trading: Congress councillors taken to Jaipur, AAP’s go to Delhi

While the Congress shifted its newly-elected councillors to Jaipur, the AAP chose to move its councillors to Delhi on Monday.

The Chandigarh municipal polls were held on December 24, with the results — that was declared on December 27 — throwing up a hung House. After Harpreet Babla switched parties, both the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ended up with 14 votes each in the 36 member house (one vote is of Chandigarh MP, Kirron Kher, who is from the BJP). One vote is that of the Akali Dal and seven votes are of the Congress.

The AAP has already alleged that three of its councillors have been contacted by senior leaders of the BJP and they have offered between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh to vote for them in the upcoming Mayoral elections.

Contacted, Chandigarh Congress chief Subhash Chawla said that his party’s councillors were being approached by “unknown people”.

“A bunch of people have been visiting the residences of our councillors and making them offers. All of them are unknown people, who have been claiming alleigance to one party or the other. No big leader has visited our councillors so far, but they are sending their cronies,” Chawla said.

He added, “Though we had thought that after winning the civic polls, we will take our councillors on a holiday to some religious place, all we have been forced to do so far is move them to Jaipur as of now to protect them from horse-trading. They travelled with their families and in their respective vehicles.”

Asked about when the councillors are likely to return, Chawla said that they will return on the night of January 7, hinting at the possibility that the Congress may not field its candidate and abstain from voting during the Mayoral polls.

Sources said that the Mayoral elections are likely to take place on January 8 and the Congress councillors may not return to Chandigarh till then or return only a night before the elections.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday also shifted its 14 councillors in a bus to Delhi. Officially, the AAP said that its councillors, most of them greenhorns, were taken to Delhi to show how the Vidhan Sabha functions. However, sources said that the newly-elected councillors were brought to Delhi to meet with the Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia.

Sources added that the AAP councillors will only be brought back to the city once the date for Mayoral polls are declared.

Later in the day, a picture by the AAP showing 11 of its councillors was released by the party. Prodded about the three missing councillors, AAP leaders clarified that councillor Prem Lata’s sister passed away owing to which she couldn’t join, councillor Lakhbir Singh had got his vaccination following which he was suffering from fever, and councillor Jasvir Singh had gone to a religious place to pay obeisance on his win.

Congress may abstain from voting

Sources in the Congress on Monday claimed that the party may abstain from voting altogether in the upcoming Mayoral poll. As of Monday both the BJP and AAP had 14 votes each. While the BJP has 13 councillors in the House, including Harpreet Babla, it also had the vote of Chandigarh MP, Kirron Kher, who is the ex-officio member of the general house of the municipality.

Congress’ Chandigarh chief Subhash Chawla, however, on Monday said that the party take party in the voting process if the BJP fields Harpreet Babla as its Mayoral candidate.

“We won’t let Harpreet Babla become the Mayor. The Bablas left the party after abusing its chief and other senior leaders,” Chawla said. In order to prevent Harpreet Babla from becoming the Mayor, sources said, the COngress might even side with the AAP during the Mayoral polls.

On Sunday, councillor Harpreet Babla and her husband, outgoing councillor and vice president of the Congress in Chandigarh, Devinder Babla, had shifted their loyalties to BJP, joining the saffron party in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, BJP chief Arun Sood, BJP leader Sanjay Tandon and MP Kirron Kher.