Congress appointees in NDMC removed

NEW DELHI: All four Congress-appointed members in New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) were abruptly removed following orders from the Union home ministry.
On Saturday, four BJP leaders were sworn in as NDMC members by lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, along with others members?all were part of the old team. Congress-appointed members say they didn't get any notice either from the civic agency or the home ministry in this regard.
According to the NDMC Act, the central government can appoint four members. The ministry has appointed former BJP MLA from Delhi Canonment Karan Singh Tanwar, and senior BJP leaders Anita Arya, B S Bhati, and Shri Abdul Rasheed Ansari as members of the council. "The entire team has been reconstituted. All members were administered oath by the LG,'' said an NDMC official.
While talks of the reconstitution had been doing the rounds, the decision to appoint new members came as a shock to Congress members. "We were informed a night before the ceremony at LG's house. We were not given any notice. This is not how a government should work,'' said Tajdar Babar, former NDMC member whose term was to expire on January 2016. The previous UPA government had appointed four members ?Ashok Ahuja, IA Siddiqui, Sukaram and Babar.
The move has given Congress and AAP an opportunity to attack BJP. "They want to get their people in all important government offices and want to run NDMC as per their whims and fancies,'' said Manish Sisodia, senior AAP leader. BJP leaders say the home ministry is well within their rights to appoint new members. But Babar says they were unceremoniously removed. "The protocol has to be followed,'' said Babar.
Along with the four new BJP leaders, Jung administered oath to NDMC chairperson Jalaj Shrivastava, Meenakshi Lekhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Surender Singh (MLA-Delhi Cantt), I SChahal (Joint Secretary(U.T.), Ministry of Home Affairs), DS Mishra (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development), Dharmendar (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development) and shri Dharampal (Principal Secretary (Land & Building), Govt. of NCT of Delhi).