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Congress Councillors may find the going tough

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

"The party is wondering what to do with them"

NEW DELHI: An internal assessment of the sitting party Councillors in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi by the Pradesh Congress Committee has revealed that nearly 50 of them might find it difficult to even save their deposits if they are given tickets to contest the polls to be held in April.

According to sources in the party, people are so angry with these Councillors that the party is wondering what to do with them.

"Being sitting Councillors they are no doubt in the running for the party tickets, but giving them ticket would amount to weakening our prospects considerably in the polls. We want to select new candidates with a clean image for most of the seats," said a party leader.

What has made these Councillors unpopular is their alleged involvement in various cases of corruption. For the party, these Councillors have become a burden that it wants to get rid of.

While the DPCC has declared that it would not give ticket to any tainted candidate or to those involved in criminal activities, the party leadership is finding it difficult to contend with the demands from senior Members of Parliament, MLAs and other leaders who have already made up their mind on the final list.

The goings-on have also given enough fodder to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to accuse the Congress of failing to rein in its Councillors. The party has repeatedly charged that "the Central Bureau of Investigation is enquiring into the conduct of 86 of the 108 Congress Councillors, over a dozen Congress Councillors have been arrested while accepting bribe and one Councillor has lost her membership on charges of forgery."

The BJP has also accused Mayor Farhad Suri of violating the rules and denying permission to the CBI to prosecute Councillor Ashok Jain.

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