JAIPUR: Political activity has intensified ahead of the September 21 polls for mayors and chairpersons in Rajasthan, with the BJP and Congress scrambling to get the numbers needed to form urban local body boards.
With Independents holding the balance in several municipalities, both parties have moved councillors to hotels and resorts to prevent defections. Police intervention at some locations has triggered allegations of intimidation and misuse of government machinery.
In Sangaria, Hanumangarh, police travelled to Punjab late Friday after receiving missing-person complaints concerning councillors Omprakash Swami and Sahil Swami, who were staying at a Congress camp. Congress MLA Abhimanyu Poonia accused the BJP government of using false complaints to pressure councillors and attempting to forcibly take them away.
When police recorded statements from both councillors, they denied being abducted and said they had travelled to Punjab voluntarily. The police subsequently returned without taking them into custody.
Independents hold a decisive position in Sangaria, where they won 25 of the municipal council’s 35 seats. The Congress has eight councillors and the BJP two. Congress workers later staged a sit-in outside the Sangaria police station led by Poonia. Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara alleged that police had visited 13 locations where Congress councillors were staying and pressured them. He alleged that efforts to influence councillors were being directed by BJP leaders and carried out through officials in the CM’s Office.
Dotasara cited Bharatpur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Sriganganagar, Sangaria, Behror, Bansur, Neemrana, Sikar, Losal, Kanod and Bhindar among the locations where he alleged pressure was being exerted.