BJP objects to presence of UT Cong chief in admn meeting

The city BJP has raised strong objections to an administrative meeting held on Saturday at the UT Guest House, chaired by Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari, in which Congress state president HS Lucky was also present. The meeting involved high-ranking UT officials and aimed to discuss governance-related matters.

City BJP media in-charge Sanjeev Rana expressed serious concern over the presence of Lucky in this official meeting, calling it blatant violation of democratic norms.

“It is well within the constitutional rights of an elected MP to hold discussions with administrative officials,” said Rana. “However, the presence of a political party president, such as HS Lucky, in an official government meeting is completely inappropriate and unacceptable. It goes against the spirit of democratic protocol.”

Rana further added, “On one hand, the Congress protests on the streets, claiming that Chandigarh is centrally governed and not accountable locally, and on the other hand, their leaders sit in closed-door meetings with UT officials. This is a clear example of double standards and political hypocrisy.”

The BJP has demanded that the Chandigarh Administration issue a public clarification on who invited Lucky to the meeting and under what authority. “If a satisfactory explanation is not provided soon, the BJP has warned of launching a public protest to uphold democratic values and ensure transparency,” said Rana.

Reacting to the allegations, Lucky said the MP was within his rights to invite eminent members of the public to the review meetings of MPLAD Fund. “The participation of eminent citizens of society and politics provides important feedback on the equitable, honest and fair allocation of MPLAD Fund within the city. This practice of participation of public figures will continue. The objection of the BJP is unwarranted,” he said.

“The MP fund review meeting does not come under any specific law, but is a government scheme run by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and detailed guidelines in this regard are already there in public domain,” said Rajiv Sharma, spokesperson for the Congress.

Chandigarh