3 municipal corps induct new office-bearers

Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Bhavnagar bodies announced the appointments on Wednesday; maiden standing committee meets held

Ahmedabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state parliamentary board on Wednesday selected office-bearers for Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Bhavnagar municipal corporations.

Post the official announcement of mayors, deputy mayors and standing committee chairmen, the first general board meeting of all three corporations was held in the respective cities.

Kirit Parmar was inducted as the Ahmedabad mayor, who will be supported by deputy mayor Geetaben Patel during his office tenure.

Hitesh Barot was selected to be the standing committee chairman of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), with Bhaskar Bhatt as the BJP leader of opposition and Arunsinh Rajput as the party whip.

According to party representatives, Parmar has roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is a down-to-earth individual, who has chosen not to move into the mayor’s official residence but stay put in his home located in Virabhagat ni Chali in Bapunagar area of the city.

Sources indicated that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had a say in the selection of the deputy mayor, standing committee chairman and party whip, and that is the reason why all three belong to western part of  Ahmedabad. Interestingly, it falls under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by Shah.

Promising to work on easing traffic congestion, standing committee chairman Hitesh Barot said that the corporation will plan flyovers on all crossroads in the city.

In Vadodara, Keyur Rokadiya was appointed the mayor and Nandaben Joshi, the deputy mayor. Dr Hitendra Patel was inducted as the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) standing committee chairman.

Addressing the maiden general body meeting of the newly inducted body, Rokadiya assured citizens that development will be high on his agenda and all pending projects for basic amenities will be fast-tracked.

Party sources from Vadodara stated that Parakramsinh Jadeja, Dr Sheetal Mistry and Dr Hitendra Patel were the frontrunners for the mayoral position and many were surprised at Rokadiya’s appointment.

They added that Jadeja’s supporters were prepared for celebrations had he been declared as the mayor but, had to toe the party line and respect the decision made by senior leaders.

Bhavnagar has inducted Kirtiben Danidhariya as its mayor, with Kumar Shah as the deputy mayor. Dhirubhai Dhameliya was named the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee chairman.

While Kirtiben has been elected from Congress for the past two terms, Shah served as the standing committee member in the previous term.

First-timer office-bearer Budhabhai Gohel of the Koli community was selected as the party leader of opposition in the municipal corporation and counsellor Pankajsinh Gohil was appointed as the party whip. Incidentally, this is Gohil’s second term, as he was a member of the standing committee previously.