Junagadh: Two Muslim Councillors of Congress resign,join BJP

Junagadh, 5 November 2012

Is Congress party heading towards losing power in Junagadh Municipal Corporation(JMC)?

Two Congress corporators Shehnaz Qureshi and Razak Mahida of JMC today submitted their resignations and joined the BJP.

Last month, speaking to Indian Express, Congress Councillor from Junagadh, Shahnaz Qureshi had said that Muslims are not treated well in the Congress. She said that the Congress won the Junagadh Municipal Corporation with the support of Muslims and there were seven Muslim Councillors elected on Congress ticket in Junagadh, but none of them was given a chance to become Deputy Mayor.

In July this year, Congress Councillors Gajju Parmar, Razak Mahida, Manjula Parsana, Sehnaz Qureshi and Rajshi Ambaliya, had submitted resignations in the general board after re-election of Kotecha as Deputy Mayor. These Councillors had demanded no-repeat policy for the posts of Standing Committee Chairman and Deputy Mayor. However, Mayor Lakhabhai Parmar had rejected their demand, saying the state party in-charge for municipal corporations Narhari Amin had cleared the name of Kotecha for the post. However later on everything settled down.

In a house of 51, the Congress has 27 Councillors (including the two who resigned today) and is supported by three BSP members. The BJP has 21 Councillors.