2 months on….Congress out, NCP in
The direction by the Chief Minister-led UDD is being seen as a major embarrassment to the BJP which had apparently tried to create a rift between the NCP and the Congress by passing an unfair ruling
Bhayandar : In the musical chair game for the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), the Congress received a major setback after the State Urban Development Department (UDD) scrapped the Mayor’s ruling which was in favour of their member Pramod Samant.
The BJP has 29 members followed by NCP’s 26 and 17 of the Congress. Being the second largest party, the NCP was the rightful claimant to the LoP post. However, insisting that she had received only the Congress proposal, Mayor Geeta Jain gave out a ruling in Samant’s favour.
Taking a strong objection over this, the NCP had demanded immediate cancellation of the resolution. In view of the facts and a report submitted by the civic chief, the UDD passed an order under section 451(1) of the BPMC Act scrapping the resolution which has now cleared the decks for Liyakat Shaikh, the official LoP nominee of the NCP.
A period of 30 days has, however, been granted by the UDD to register a say on the orders. The direction by the Chief Minister-led UDD is being seen as a major embarrassment to the BJP which had apparently tried to create a rift between the NCP and the Congress by passing an unfair ruling.
As per judicial directions in context to a similar matter related to the Thane civic body, section 19-IAA casts a solemn duty on the Mayor to ascertain the relative numerical strength and does not confer a choice of appointing anyone as LoP.
Suresh Golani
