With Assembly polls just a few months away, a split in the saffron camp became evident as, upset over the decision to continue with Mehra by the party high command, councillors Jagdish Mamgain and Harish Awasthi resigned from committee posts late on Sunday.

While Mamgain resigned as deputy chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Awasthi resigned as deputy chairman of the Grievances Redressal Committee. They had held these positions for the past year.

The political drama unfolded on Monday, just a day before the last date for filing of nominations for the post of mayor, deputy mayor and vacancies in the Standing Committee.

Opposing their party’s decision, several discontented BJP councillors said the aspirations of other party leaders were being throttled. Party sources alleged that Mehra had benefited from her proximity to the daughter of the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate, L K Advani.

“While the party was publicly maintaining till April 12 that people occupying all key posts would be changed, it suddenly made this announcement without even consulting us. They should have called a meeting of all BJP Councillors and consulted them on this. But they made a sudden announcement that we got to know through the media,” said a BJP councillor.

The appointment to the post of mayor is made on a rotational basis. According to an amendment made to the DMC Act in 1993, in the first year of the MCD House, the post of mayor is reserved for a woman candidate, which led to Mehra’s election. The second year is open for councillors of any category, while the third year is reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate. The fourth and fifth years are again open for any councillor.

The extension given to Arti Mehra means that no non-SC councillor can hope to become mayor this year as well as the next — unless of course Mehra is asked to contest the coming Assembly polls later this year and is replaced by someone else.

Councillors like Meera Agarwal, Mool Chand Chawla, Rajesh Gehlot, Jagdish Mamgain and Ram Kishan Singhal are being seen as those who are losing out, as they were hopefuls for any one of the three top posts.

The discontent may even mean that some councillors may resort to cross voting in favour of non-BJP candidates in the election to crucial MCD posts, sources say.

One Councillor said the party’s decision was wrong, as it pleased hardly 15 people and displeased almost 150.

Jagdish Mamgain told Newsline he still stood by the party’s decision, taken a year ago, that new people would be given a chance to hold these important posts every year. “I believe I should step down to give someone else a chance. It is only by stepping down that we can give a democratic chance to new people to prove their capabilities,” he said.

Delhi BJP president, Dr Harsh Vardhan, told Newsline there was no involvement of Advani’s family in the decision to give Mehra another term. “We have not violated anything. In the second year a general candidate should be mayor. This does not mean a general category male. Arti Mehra is a general candidate and there is no violation of any norms by the party,” he said.