After a humiliating defeat in civic body election in Chandigarh, trouble seems to be brewing for Congress.
A day after the Congress was confined to only four seats out of total 26 wards in Chandigarh, the party leaders held former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal responsible for the poor performance in MC polls.
Chandermukhi Sharma, a former councillor and a loyalist of former Union Minister Manish Tewari on Wednesday alleged that city ex-MP Bansal and Congress city chief Pradeep Chhabra, who has resigned from the top post, had distributed tickets to their loyalists and weak candidates.
“No survey was conducted to take feedback before giving tickets to party nominees,” he said.
Sharma, who was denied a ticket this time, said that the reasons for defeat of the Congress was wrong distribution of tickets and even, party high command was kept in dark about the ticket distribution.
We demand a Bansal free Congress in Chandigarh and will take up the issue with party high command, added Sharma.
In the MC poll results announced on Tuesday, BJP-SAD combine had won 21 seats out of total 26 wards, with BJP winning 20 seats, SAD one seat and Congress managing to win only four seats.
Notably, Sharma’s brother Suraj Mukhi Sharma had contested as an independent and polled 1,017 votes from ward 1, where Congress candidate HS lucky, a former councillor, lost by 324 votes to first-time BJP contestant Mahesh Inder Singh.
While Congress has been struggling with infighting after an embarrassing defeat, the BJP is now gearing up for the mayoral elections in MC to be held early next year.
With the Mayor’s post being reserved for women this time, Asha Kumari Jaswal and Heera Negi are the front runners. While Asha Kumari won from ward no 17, former senior deputy Mayor Heera Negi won from ward no 13.
In BJP, the lobbying has also begun for the post of the new party president. BJP president Sanjay Tandon’s tenure has already expired and the party is likely to announce its new president in January next year.