BJP rebels ‘hampering poll campaigns’, party suspends 56 for 6 years in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: Rebels are giving sleepless nights to official candidates in the civic polls. The rebels contesting as independents are emerging as central candidates in several wards of MCG, giving a tough challenge to official candidates of the parties.
Voting for the civic poll is scheduled for March 2. Congress is contesting on its symbol for the first time, while BJP, which traditionally contests on its symbol, is finding itself in troubled waters due to a large number of rebels from its ranks.
Concerned over the challenges from the rebels, BJP on Monday late night suspended as 56 party workers and office-bearers from the party for six years for contesting the municipal corporation election in MCG and MCM against the official candidates of the party.
Out of the 36 wards in MCG, BJP is facing the problem of a rebel candidate in 23 wards. In some wards, more than one rebel candidate is contesting against the official candidate. In MCM, out of 20 wards, BJP is facing the problem of rebels in eight wards.
In the last MCG election in 2017, BJP managed to win only 14 out of 35 wards, while rebels and independents won in 20 wards. Later, independents extended support to BJP. In this election, rebels could damage the prospects of official candidates.
Most of the rebels have a strong ground-level connection, and they are stronger than the official candidate. BJP candidate from ward no. 15, Bharti Harsana, even filed a police complaint and raised the issue with the party against the rebel for obstructing her campaign. She alleged that the rebel candidate, using her influence, is denying her entry into certain societies of her ward.
The prominent rebels include former mayor Vimal Yadav from ward no. 2, Ashwani Sharma, considered to be a close associate of Union minister Rao Inderjeet Singh from ward no. 13, former corporator Rama Rani Rathee from ward no. 23, former deputy mayor Parminder Kataria and Pramod Yadav from ward no. 14.
The wards in which BJP is facing rebels include ward no. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 28, 32, 24, 35, and 36 of MCG. In MCM, BJP is facing rebels in wards no. 1, 2, 6, 7, 12, 15, and 16.
The rebel independents who are strong in their wards include Rama Rani Rathee, a candidate from ward no. 23, which has areas like DLF 1. Rathee was a councillor from 2011 to 2017. After the death of her husband, RS Rathee, who was a councillor, Rama Rani won a bypoll to return as MCG councillor in 2021. Rathee has a strong connection in the area and her husband won as an independent in 2017. Rathee is focusing on issues like water scarcity, roads, sewerage, electricity and parks. "Water scarcity is acute all over the ward, particularly in the summer," said Rathee while talking about solutions like the creation of reservoirs, construction of underground water tanks, plugging leakages and ensuring equitable distribution of water.
She said the irony is that, while on the one hand, there is severe water scarcity in the summer, there is flooding during the monsoon. "If artificial water bodies are created, they will augment the supply in the summer and store the runoff water, especially from the Aravali range during the monsoon. This will also control the flooding. I strongly feel that town planning experts need to prepare a comprehensive plan for this immediately," said Rathee.
Former mayor Vimal Yadav, whose wife Rimple Yadav is contesting as an independent from ward no. 2, said they have a deep connection with the people of the ward, and they are receiving support from them.