Bharti Vyas elected Vadodara’s first woman mayor

VADODARA, July 20: In a day of few surprises, 48-year old Bharti Vyas of the Bharatiya Janata Party was unanimously elected the first wom...

VADODARA, July 20: In a day of few surprises, 48-year old Bharti Vyas of the Bharatiya Janata Party was unanimously elected the first woman mayor of Vadodara for 1998-99 on Monday.

Former Standing Committee chairman Dinesh Chokshi was elected Deputy Mayor by a majority vote of 53 against 17 after Vyas rejected the Opposition candidate — Congress councillor Minaxi Patel — for the post.

Earlier, Opposition councillors strongly opposed the BJP’s decision to hold the crucial meeting within half-an-hour of paying respects to former BJP councillor Madhubhai Shah. “The meeting should be held some other day,” they said. They also criticised the Mayor’s rejection of their proposal to adjourn the meeting in memory of Gulam Meman, a social worker.

N V Patel won a second term as standing committee chairman, while Water Works Committee chairman Umakant Joshi was elected party leader in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, replacing Maganbhai Desai. Health Committee chairman Sadanand Desai was chosen the party’s whip in place of Arvind Patel.

Party observer Amit Shah announced the names — finalised at a meeting of the State party parliamentary board in Gandhinagar late on Sunday night — at a party meeting before the Standing Committee meeting.

While party observer Bhupendrasinh Solanki told Express Newsline that the BJP expected the team to closely co-ordinate and fulfill the people’s expectations, a senior Sangh Parivar leader admitted — on condition of anonymity — that for the first time merit had been considered. “It was high time that the party worked to better the city”, the leader said.

The admission comes in the wake of city unit president Bhupendra Lakhawala’s public statement that “the (Sangh Parivar-appointed previous) team had failed to deliver the goods”.

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Vadodara Urban Development Authority chairman Krishnakant Shah said the party had taken into consideration candidates’ competency, coordination skills, honesty and party work while making the appointments. Party sources agreed that the appointments sent the clear message that allegiance to particular groups had not carried any weight.

That Umakant Joshi had not been named the deputy mayor — being appointed the party leader in the civic body instead — indicated that the BJP wanted strong candidates. Chokshi, who was appointed deputy mayor, was a strong candidate for the post of standing committee chairman.