AAP, BJP leaders gear up for MC elections

Though schedule for the Municipal Corporation elections is yet to be announced, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have already got active.

Two days ago, the BJP had announced its incharges and co-incharges for a cluster of wards in all civic bodies going to the polls, including those in Jalandhar, Phagwara, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala and 42 municipal committees.

All senior leaders, including former ministers Tikshan Sud and Manoranjan Kalia, former MP Sushil Rinku and former state chiefs Ashwani Sharma have been assigned duties by the saffron party, post the meeting held on Monday in Jalandhar.

AAP, too, has announced its observers for civic bodies in five cities. Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has been appointed as observer for Amritsar, Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO for Jalandhar, Barinder Goyal for Patiala and Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh for Ludhiana Municipal Corporation.

AAP MP from Hoshiarpur Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal has been appointed as an observer for the Phagwara Municipal Corporation.

AAP, which has maximum number of ticket seekers from all wards, has already started meetings with MC officials in all cities and even the party workers.

On Friday, Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, Horticulture Minister Mohinder Bhagat, MLAs Raman Arora and Inderjit Kaur Mann held meetings with Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal and Municipal Corporation Commissioner Gautam Jain asking them to get the civic works expedited.

The works for which AAP leaders have sought push in Jalandhar include installation of 28 new tubewells and sewage connections for which December 5 has been fixed as the deadline. A Rs 40 crore project for cleaning drains has also been initiated.

As many as 6,000 streetlights worth Rs 5 crore and an additional 1,000 light points for Focal Point area have been proposed. While 1,138 CCTV cameras have been installed, there is a plan to add 1,500 more in near future, the officials told the AAP leadership.

So far, the Congress has not held any meeting with its workers. “Our leaders, including PCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Channi are busy with Parliament session. Once they are back on the weekend, we will discuss the issues affecting the residents and form our strategy,” said former MLA and Jalandhar DCC chief Rajinder Beri.