CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Congress (I) is turning its virtual defeat in the municipal elections into victory through horse-trading and manipulations if the co-option of members to these Committees is any indication,
The co-option is done from among women and scheduled castes in easy they do not get elected,
The co-option of members has almost been completed barring the districts of Ludhiana and Sangrur where the process would be completed soon.
Immediately after the elections, the Pradesh Congress (I) president and the Chief Minister, Beant Singh, had claimed that the ruling party would come to power in about 70 municipal committees out of a total of 95 although the party could get majority only in20 Municipal committees which it contested on party symbol. The party had claimed the support of 298 independents,
The process of wooing independents into the party fold started immediately after the elections with the ministers and the MLAs assigned the job. So intense was the lobbying by the ruling party that even the cabinet meeting scheduled recently was postponed with the direction to the ministers to enter the capital only after the process of co-options was completed,
To escape pressures and counter pressures a number of independents went into hibernation while some others were taken to other places by the different pressure groups, Some members from Longowal municipal committee were kept here for a few days. While the Congress (I) leaders deny that money played any role in winning over the independents, reports reaching here do not rule it out. Among independents were a number of rebel Congressmen,
In Amritsar district, barring Jandiala Guru municipal committee, the Congress (I) has been successful in getting its nominees coopted in all other committees. The party claims similar success in Gurdaspur district except Dhariwal,
The ruling party had fared badly in the Malwa region but the tide is now by and large in favor of the Congress (I) inspite of the best efforts of Akali Dal (Badal) president, Parkash Singh Badal, who had campaigned intensely in favor of the joint fronts which had come up at the local level to oppose the ruling party during elections. The typical case is that of Kotkapura in Faridkot district, the home district of Badal, where the Congress (I) had a humiliating defeat but now the party is all poised to come into power there after getting its nominees coopted, Yet another case is that of Moga in the same district where the rivalry between the two Congress (I) MLAs had cost the ruling party dearly. The ruling party had been able to bag only seven seats out of 23 but later managed to get the support of 11 independents who signed pledge in its favor. The lone BJP winner also came out in support of the Congress (I).
In Gidderbaha, the Assembly constituency represented by Badal, the ruling party claims to have got one co-option in its favor out of two. In Mansa district, out of three municipal committees, the Congress (I) has been able to manage co-options in its favor in two.
That the official machinery had been active in the process of cooption’s was manifested at Malout where the police entered the meeting hall to take out the members leading to tension in the town, At Phagwara again the use of official machinery has gone against the Congress (I),
Article extracted from this publication >> October 9, 1992
