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Work at AMC comes to hault Friday, September 28, 2001

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Darkened rooms and deserted offices. Localities with their representations of civic issues went back empty-handed as Congress men at Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, especially those who are chairmen of civic committees, stayed away from work.

An impromptu work boycott, called by almost all chairmen of the 13 civic committees and a growing section of Congress men angry at the party leadership in the AMC, paralysed work at the corporation on Wednesday.

The successful "bandh" at AMC also added strength to the protracted battle of disgruntled Congress men against AMC's Congress leadership, namely, Mayor Himmatsinh Patel and chairman of Standing Committee Badruddin Sheikh.

The dissident problem came to fore immediately after Sabarmati and Sabarkantha elections when Congress corporators met party-poll observers at the mayor's bungalow and pointed accusatory fingers at AMC's party leadership. This was followed by a discussion with the state party high command, where once again the group of dissidents voiced their disgruntlement.

A senior Congress man and a corporator of the AMC told TNN: "This is not a intra-party power struggle but a fight to reinstall democracy in this section of Congress leadership. This work boycott may be followed up by a visit to New Delhi to discuss the issue with senior Congress leaders. On Thursday, we will also submit a memorandum to the newly formed Congress co-ordination committee leader and city unit president at AMC, Rajkumar Gupta."

Sources added that the memorandum will speak of Congress inactivity on civic issues ever since they came to power at AMC; demand that chairmen of 13 civic committees of AMC and that of mayor be changed every year "to give everyone a chance to be at helm of affairs".

Though the Standing Committee chairman insisted that "there is nothing wrong at the AMC and that the committee chairmen may have gone out on personal business", a source revealed the reason that brought the infighting to such a pass: "Senior Congress leaders at helm of affairs of the AMC have complained to the state party high command that the present chairmen of civic committees are ineffective and inefficient. This is because we had spoken out against the weak leadership provided by the mayor and the standing committee chairman. We are not power hungry people, as portrayed by the party leadership, rather our demands, once met, will bring better days for Congress in Gujarat."

News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]

 

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