Chandigarh Mayoral polls: 2 BJP leaders blamed for embarrassment

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, February 20

BJP councillors, who assembled at the PWD Rest House in Panchkula today, blamed two party leaders for orchestrating the whole incident of January 30.

They pointed fingers at a former Chandigarh BJP president and a former Mayor. Both were blamed for getting the date of the mayoral polls extended, invalidating the votes by the presiding officer and getting the AAP leaders join the BJP on the eve of SC hearing.

“Three AAP councillors were made to join the BJP without taking local leadership in confidence when the matter was sub judice. The court has also talked of horse trading. In the race to score brownie points to become Lok Sabha seat candidate, such foolishness was done, which has tarnished the image of the party,” said a party leader.

The councillors, who were called at lunch today, were asked to stay put till tomorrow. Some were questioning the rationale behind making them stay here even for a night when the elections were over.

Other than party president Jatinder Pal Malhotra, no senior leader was there. Some councillors skipped the meeting. Councillors Manoj Sonkar and Anup Gupta did not stay there for night. Questions were also raised over the local leadership as they failed to control things.

Meanwhile, people close to the two leaders said they did not take decisions on their own. Party leaders were kept in the loop.