GUWAHATI, May 30 - Uncertainty prevails in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) with the BJP claiming majority in the general body of the Corporation and asking Mayor Abir Patra to tender his resignation ahead of the no-confidence motion that the saffron party is planning to move against the Congress.
The BJP�s plan to call the Congress for a floor test, though, is pending a nod from the State party president, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Dominated by the Congress following the municipal election of the year 2013, equations changed in the general body of the Corporation after the BJP-led alliance won all the four Assembly seats of Guwahati.
Immediately after the Assembly poll results were out, BJP asked the Mayor, a Congress councillor, to resign, as the saffron party claimed majority in the general body following the switchover of three Congress councillors from the Jalukbari area to the BJP fold.
In the 2013 elections, of the 31 wards in the GMC, the Congress had secured 19 followed by the BJP with 11 seats and the AGP one. Three Congress councillors from Jalukbari later joined the BJP following in the footsteps of the Jalukbari MLA, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The BJP�s claim of majority is based on the votes from the four MLAs of Guwahati and party MP Bijoya Chakravarty, apart from its 14 councillors and one AGP councillor.
�With a tally of 20 seats, we can safely assert our position in the GMC. As soon as our leader, Sarbananda Sonowal, gives his approval, we would go ahead with the no-trust motion against the Congress,� said Mrigen Sarania, BJP councillor and the Leader of Opposition in the general body. �The Mayor is only buying time for reasons that are not beyond doubt,� he alleged.
Refuting the Congress� claim of majority based on the votes of Rajya Sabha members Rani Narah and Sanjay Singh, Sarania said that they are not voters from Guwahati and hence are not entitled to vote.
�Rani Narah is a voter from Dhakuwakhana whereas Singh�s address is Amethi in Utter Pradesh. Instead of resorting to such tactics to cling on to power, the Congress should honour the mandate of the people of Assam and Guwahati,� Sarania stated.
