BJP’s Ruparani Nikam elected Kolhapur mayor after 5-year gap

KOLHAPUR: The newly elected general body of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday, February 6 elected Bharatiya Janata Party's Ruparani Nikam as the new mayor and Jan Surajya Shakti nominee Akshay Jarag as the deputy mayor. In the 81-member house, Nikam and Jarag secured 46 votes each, while the opposition candidates got 35.

These posts were vacant for over five years after the last term of Mayor Nilofar Ajrekar and Deputy Mayor Sanjay Mohite ended on November 14, 2020.

On Friday, Amol Yedge, Kolhapur District Collector, presided over the meet to elect mayor and deputy mayor. Nikam and Jarag, both from Mahayuti parties defeated MahaVikas Aghadi alliance candidates Sachin Shende and Durvas Kadam.

Despite having less numbers in the house, the opposition alliance had decided to contest the election. The opposition was banking on some miracle to take place from a few disgruntled Mahayuti Corporators. However, the ruling alliance had issued a whip to their members to vote for their official nominees. To avoid any unfavourable results, all 46 corporators of the Mahayuti parties were taken to an undisclosed location on Thursday and were brought directly to the meeting on Friday 10am.

The Corporators from Mahayuti parties had adorned saffron colour 'Kolhapuri Phetas' along with their party scarfs, whereas the Corporators from MahaVikas Aghadi had adorned 'Gandhi Topi' over their heads. The voting by raising hands made it easy for the floor leaders to keep a watch on the corporators and to avoid any defection.

Ruparani Nikam is wife of Sangramsinh Nikam, a close aide of Rajya Sabha MP Dhananjay Mahadik and MLA Amal Mahadik. Even when the mayor post had got open for OBC category men and women. BJP decided to choose Nikam, serving her second term as Corporator for the post of Mayor. She is very likely to get a fifteen-month term before stepping down to pave way for other corporators from Mahayuti to become Mayor.

Mayor Nikam said, "I am proud that I got elected as the first Mayor of BJP and Mahayuti parties for Kolhapur municipal corporation. I will initiate a 'Mayor at your Doorstep' initiative. On every 5th day of the month, a 'Janata Darbar' will be conducted in the KMC chowk so that the issues faced by the citizens are resolved. Along with the pending merger of fringe villages into Kolhapur municipal limits, garbage, water scarcity, women empowerment related issues will be solved on priority. I will try to get funds from the state govt to implement good projects for the development of the Kolhapur city".