Factionalism within the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) came out in the open on Monday when Congress councillors clashed with Mayor Surendra Chauhan in the presence of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The councillors are angry over the five-year extension given to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor and have demanded a change in leadership.
The Chief Minister had called all 24 Congress councillors to his residence, Oakover, to calm the situation. However, the meeting turned tense as several women councillors said they did not want to speak in front of the Mayor. They asked for a separate discussion for the 13 councillors who had opposed the extension. The Mayor objected, insisting there were no groups in the corporation. CM Sukhu intervened and told him that every councillor had the right to speak.
The Chief Minister then met the 13 rebel councillors separately, including Kanta Suyal, Simmi Nanda, Atul Gautam, Urmila Kashyap, Anita Sharma, and others. He assured them that he was aware of their concerns and had tried to delay the extension proposal, but had to approve it before the Assembly session.
After the meeting, the Mayor and his supporters returned to the Town Hall, while the dissatisfied councillors gathered at Khalini to plan their next move. Around 15 councillors are said to be united against the Mayor and are considering a no-confidence motion if their demands are not met.
The councillors complained that development work worth crores was being carried out only in the Mayor’s preferred wards, while other areas were being overlooked. They also alleged that contractors dominate meetings in the Mayor’s office.
Speaking to the media, CM Sukhu said the matter had been discussed and resolved. However, it seems that the councillors’ anger has not subsided. The rift within the Shimla Municipal Corporation continues, with growing pressure on the Congress leadership to address the rebellion before it weakens the party’s control in the civic body.
