Now, Chandigarh municipal corporation steps into tug of war over UT

In the political tug of war over Chandigarh between the Punjab and Haryana governments, the Chandigarh municipal corporation has also entered the arena.

The city mayor, who is from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has called a special MC General House meeting on April 7 to demand a state legislative assembly for the UT, and a distinct identity for the UT from both Haryana and Punjab.

The development comes on the day when Haryana reiterated its claim over state capital Chandigarh, four days after the Punjab assembly demanded its transfer to the state. Punjab has an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and in Haryana, a BJP-led coalition is in power.

Mayor Sarbjit Kaur Dhillon said, “We will bring two resolutions before the House. First, Chandigarh should remain a Union territory and should have its own Vidhan Sabha. The second will be to express thanks to the Union government for implementing central services rules in the city. Even though Punjab and Haryana don’t contribute to Chandigarh financially through their assemblies and secretariats, they use Chandigarh’s space.”

In the House of 35, where the BJP has 13 councillors, it will require the support of opposition parties for passing the resolutions. The AAP has 14 councillors, Congress seven and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) one.

Reacting to the call for the special House meet, Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla questioned BJP’s motive. “The stand of the Chandigarh Congress has been very clear: we want Chandigarh’s status as a UT to continue. But why does the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, need to bring this resolution? They should simply get this issue permanently resolved.”

The AAP termed the BJP move “dirty politics”. Party’s co-incharge in Chandigarh, Pardeep Chhabra said, “The BJP should stop politicising this issue. They say different things in Haryana and in Punjab to misguide people. This is a corporation and not a state assembly.”

Attacking Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for “cheap politics” over the issue, Chandigarh BJP president Arun Sood said, “Chandigarh belongs neither to Punjab nor to Haryana, it has its own identity.”

The long-embroiled political issue of Chandigarh’s status as a joint capital of Punjab and Haryana got fresh life recently after the political parties in Punjab and the AAP-led government alleged that Punjab’s interest was being ignored with AGMUT-cadre officers taking up posts reserved for Punjab-cadre officers in the UT administration.

The issue became a major flash point between the AAP government in Punjab and BJP-led Union government after Union home minister Amit Shah on March 27 declared the replacement of Punjab service rules with central service rules for UT employees.

In response, a special session of the Punjab assembly was called on April 1, where an immediate transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab was demanded through a resolution.

Four days later, the Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution, urging the Centre not to take any step that will disturb the existing balance till all issues emanating from the reorganisation of Punjab were settled, besides reiterating its claim over the state capital.