AAP bid to bag Chandigarh Mayor's post suffers blow as Congress councillor defects to BJP

AAP's endeavour to bag the Chandigarh Mayor's post suffered a setback on Sunday as newly elected Congress councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla defected to BJP along with her husband Devinder Singh Babla. On December 27, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party got a big boost ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls by emerging as the single-largest party in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation by winning 14 out of 35 wards whereas BJP and Congress won 12 and 8 wards respectively. On the other hand, Shiromani Akali Dal won a single ward. 

Flanked by Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher and other BJP leaders, Harpreet Kaur Babla remarked, "Firstly I would like to thank the complete BJP party for having welcomed us to this party. And I can say one thing for sure that I am joining this party because of the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I want to take forward the vision of Prime Minister Modi and carry on the good works which he is doing for the country even in my own city Chandigarh." 

Welcoming them into the BJP fold, Khattar said it was a matter of happiness that both quit the Congress party. While the saffron party's tally has now swelled to 13, it technically has 14 votes as the Chandigarh MP has a voting right in her capacity as an ex-officio member in the civic body. Thus, it is neck-to-neck with AAP and both parties now require 5 votes each to get its councillor elected as the Mayor. 

AAP levels poaching charge

Earlier, AAP's Punjab co-in-charge Raghav Chadha alleged that some BJP leaders had offered Rs.50 lakh to 2 party councillors and Rs.75 lakh to another winning candidate to join their party. As a "precautionary measure", he announced that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will install cameras at the residences of its councillors and warned that camera footage and call recordings will be released in the public domain if any BJP leader contacts them. Taking to Twitter on December 28, BJP's Punjab election in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat contended that it was AAP's old habit to level allegations without any proof. 

Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat remarked, "This indicates a lack of confidence in Kejriwal who made tall promises in Chandigarh and a result of increasing credibility of BJP in Punjab. He wants to become a point of discussion in Punjab by getting his colleagues to make allegations against me and my office. The truth is that BJP is the voice of the people against Congress in Punjab at present and AAP which is dreaming is seeing no light at the end of the tunnel. My sympathies are with Kejriwal."