Ashok Lahoti steps down as mayor, Manoj Bhardwaj gets lukewarm reception

Two weeks after mayor Ashok Lahoti was elected as the legislature, he resigned from the post of the mayor on Monday and deputy mayor Manoj Bhardwaj has been given additional charge of the post of mayor. There is still a situation of suspicion in the BJP about the new mayor candidate. Outgoing mayor Lahoti gave the charge to Bharadwaj but Lahoti did not accompany him to the chair. He was not even given any garland or bouquet by anybody. A faction of BJP councillors is not in favour of Bhardwaj to make Mayor.

Bharadwaj will act as the acting mayor until the election of the new mayor. Following Lahoti’s resignation, Director Local Bodies released the order immediately to give all the administrative and financial powers of the mayor to deputy mayor Bharadwaj. Before this, the outgoing mayor Lahoti reached the JMC headquarters on Monday afternoon. Lahoti first addressed a press conference and counted the achievements of his two-year term as mayor. 

“The charge of the mayor has been given to the deputy mayor. That is why Bhardwaj got the job of an acting mayor. According to the rules, the deputy mayor should not hold the chair of the mayor so we did not let him sit on the chair of the mayor. Bharadwaj is only the acting mayor. We all BJP councillors will decide that who will be next mayor. The party should soon convene a meeting of the BJP councillors and we will talk to party leaders In this regard,” a BJP councillor told DNA.

About 3 o’clock, Bhardwaj and Lahoti reached the office of Director Local Bodies (DLB), Pawan Arora and handed over the resignation to him. Later, both the leaders reached BJP headquarters and met state president Madan Lal Saini and the state general secretary (organisation), Chandrasekhar. The party chief instructed all the councillors to get ready for the Lok Sabha election preparations. Saini advised the acting mayor and councillors to cooperate with each other.

Lahoti’s Good Deeds

Lahoti counted the achievements of his two-year tenure in the press conference. He counted his achievements in the role of Mayor, Vice Chairman of JCTSL. “During my short tenure as mayor, there were many historical works. I started door-to-door waste collection across the city, which was pending for 25 years. For the first time, two lakh dustbins were put in the city. In the Swachh Survekshan-2018, Jaipur achieved 39th rank in 4047 cities across the country. Mechanized night sweeping was started in 55 city markets.”, said Lahoti.

‘Work Together’

Acting Mayor Bharadwaj said that working together with everybody for the development of city and cleanliness of Jaipur would be my first priority. In the Swachh Survekshan-2018, Jaipur had achieved the 39th rank. This time, we will work to make our city number one in the country. I will work together with all councillors and JMC staff. Responding to questions related to the situation arising out of the change in government in the state, Bharadwaj said that the state government should provide assistance to the municipal corporation.