Dy mayor demands 'dope test' on mayor

Jalandhar: The war of words between Jalandhar mayor Sunil Jyoti of BJP and senior deputy mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia of SAD(B) touched a new low with the latter demanding the former's dope test. To protest against Bhatia's allegations, 16 out of 20 BJP councillors 'submitted' their resignations to the mayor.
With Bhatia continuing his tirade against Jyoti and reiterating his allegations of rampant corruption in the Jalandhar municipal corporation, the mayor decided that he would not go to the office and also returned his official vehicle.BJP councillors who had gathered at the mayor's house demanded that Bhatia should either be sacked or controlled. They also asked the mayor not to go to office till Bhatia continued to target him.
The MC's finance and contract committee meeting, which was scheduled for Monday and fresh fireworks were expected between mayor and senior deputy mayor, was cancelled at the 11th hour, as Jyoti did not attend office. Bhatia who waited for the meeting issued a hard hitting statement and used a strong Punjabi idiom against the mayor, saying "kuti choran naal rali hoi" (watch dog colluding with thieves).
In a recent meeting, both Bhatia and Jyoti have levelled allegations of corruption against each other. Bhatia began with a remark: "Toon lia licence chor bazaari da per mein theka lia pehredaari da (You have taken the contract of corruption but I'm working as a guardian of public interest)" against the mayor, which led to escalation of acrimony. A miffed mayor accused Bhatia of taking Rs 2 lakh for a particular building which violated the bylaws. Bhatia hit back, saying if Jyoti could prove the allegations he would resign.
Bhatia also smelt a rat in the issue of giving the contract for cleaning machine. He faced isolation among SAD councilors as eight of them submitted a joint letter to deputy mayor Arvinder Kaur Oberoi demanding action against Bhatia for foul language against mayor and other officials. They claimed that they had handed over their resignations to Oberoi and would not participate in MC meetings till Bhatia is removed by the party.
, saying a similar contract in Amritsar was given for around Rs 3 crore in five years. He alleged in Jalandhar the contract conditions were tweaked in a way that the machine would cost Rs 30 crore in five years.
After that, the Jalandhar unit of BJP had taken a strong exception to the allegations levelled by Bhatia and decided to take up the issue with state unit president Vijay Sampla so that he could bring it to the notice of SAD leadership.
BJP leaders held a special meeting on July 16 evening to discuss the issue and decided that they would convey it to state leadership to take it up with the SAD top brass. "The BJP leaders felt that such outburst against the mayor in public is a violation of the coalition dharma," said Jalandhar BJP president Ramesh Sharma. He said party was with the mayor Jyoti.