In a bid to prevent the Mayawati Government and the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party from the alleged “take over” of the elected local bodies and broaden the ambit of the opposition against the decision to hold partyless civic polls in 2011, the Uttar Pradesh Mayor Council has said that it would explore all options, including legal recourse. Seeking the President's intervention and taking the issue to the “people's court” were the other options before the Mayor Council.
The UP Mayor Council consists of eight Mayors, who were elected on the Bharatiya Janata Party symbol in the 2006 local bodies elections. Efforts are on to mobilize the support of the remaining four Mayors belonging to the Congress and an independent. The president of UP Mayor Council and Lucknow Mayor, Dinesh Sharma, said here on Wednesday that he would contact the other Mayors. At the outset, the Council's initiative has been supported by the three Congress Mayors, Dr. Sharma, who is from the saffron party, said.
Meanwhile, the issue pertaining to the Mayawati Government's decision is likely to figure in the forthcoming meeting of the All India Mayor Council in Mumbai on June 26 and 27. This was stated by the chairman of the All India Mayor Council and Aligarh Mayor, Ashutosh Varshney. A resolution on the subject would be adopted in the Mumbai meet, Mr. Varshney added.
A memorandum signed by eight BJP Mayors and the Lucknow MP, Lalji Tandon, was submitted to the Governor, B.L. Joshi, in the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. The memorandum urged the Governor to quash the notification pertaining to the decision of holding the civic elections without party symbols. The other signatories to the memorandum were Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma, Aligarh Mayor Ashutosh Varshney, Varanasi Mayor Kaushalendra Singh, Meerut Mayor Madhu Gujar, Kanpur Mayor Ravindra Patni, Gorakhpur Mayor Anju Chaudhary, Agra Mayor Manjula Mahor and Ghaziabad Mayor Damyanti Goel.
Criticising the BSP Government's decision, the Lucknow Mayor told reporters that the move reflected the Government's ulterior motives. On the move to hold general elections for all the positions in the local bodies, he alleged that it would enable the ruling party to use money and muscle power for “capturing” the mayoral positions in the 13 municipal corporations in 2011.
Dr. Sharma said considering that the BSP had no support base in the urban areas of the State, the ruling party wanted to “capture” the local bodies ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections.
