PCMC Standing Committee to undergo rejig

Pimpri: For securing the crucial post of chairman of the Standing Committee of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), there is stiff competition between  BJP corporators Rahul Jadhav and Shital Shinde. Eight new members for the Standing Committee are likely to be appointed in the General Body meeting on Tuesday. 

Six seats from the BJP and two from NCP are vacant after completion of one year’s tenure. 

There are 16 members in the Standing Committee. The duration of their membership is two years. After the general elections, the first eight members of the party retire after the first year. A similar number of members are selected again, replacing the retired members. Accordingly, eight members of the Standing Committee retired. These include Standing Committee Chairperson Seema Savale. Six BJP and NCP women corporators have retired from the panel in this process. So, their seats are vacant.

There are three active factions in the city unit of BJP, led by MLAs Laxman Jagtap, Mahesh Landge and MP Amar Sabale. Since a BJP member will be the chairman of the panel, many corporators are lobbying for the post. 

Since BJP has 77 corporators, the interested candidates are not leaving any stone unturned to secure a place in the panel. 
After coming to power in PCMC, BJP gave this crucial post to Seema Savale, who was inducted in BJP just before the election from Shiv Sena. She was known to be a supporter of MLA and BJP city unit chief Laxman Jagtap, who was also inducted in BJP just before the election.  Rahul Jadhav, previously in the MNS, was also inducted. Mayor Nitin Kalje, a supporter of Landge was previously in the NCP.

BJP has tried to balance the power equation in the civic body by giving the post of leader of house and deputy mayor to old BJP loyalists. But now, the loyalists want the post of chairman of Standing Committee. In case the party leadership accepts this, then Shital Shinde, second-time BJP corporator from Chinchwad, will be the next chairman of the Standing Committee of PCMC.

In the draw, two NCP members retired as members of the Standing Committee. For these two seats, more than 21 out of 37 corporators of NCP have applied. These candidates include a former mayor, a former leader of opposition and a former Standing Committee chairman.