This is the first time in the SMC's history that two woman councillors have been elected mayor and deputy mayor.

Leader of the house Fakirbhai Chauahn and Standing Committee chairman Natu Soma Patel will continue in their posts till fresh elections.

Unlike last year, no one was surprised with the mandate of the party State leadership. With the state unit of the BJP seeming determined to cut the Khajuria lobby to size, RSS loyalist Sharda's election was a foregone conclusion.

Expectedly, Chauhan seemed very upset with the results, with a friend of the new deputy mayor claiming that she had been ``stabbed in the back'' as a victim of Hajuria-Khajuria politics. ``Despite 40 years of association with the party and despite being one of the seniormost councillors, she has been humiliated'', the friend said.

Later, an agitated woman councillor vented her ire at BJP state vice-president Nalin Bhatt, alleging that the party had ignored the seniority principle. The common feeling was that Chauhan had not been appointed mayor since her husband Fakirbhai Chauhan -- leader of the Khajuria pack who has been ``kicked upstairs as chairman of the municipal finance board -- was not in the good books of the State party leadership.

Earlier, BJP state secretary Thakor Desai and Bhatt, who were the observers for the civic appointments, arrived here with the party mandate, but refused to unseal the envelop in outgoing Mayor Navneet Jariwala's presence, maintaining they would open it only in front of all the councillors.

For Jariwala, his last hours as mayor were anything but sweet. Even before Sharda was named the new mayor, Jariwala ``lost'' his seat to the two State leaders, city president Arvind Godiwala and other party leaders and councillors, who so crowded his room that Jariwala was forced to stand till everyone exited to attend the general meeting.

Minutes after the new mayor and her deputy took over, Jariwala left the hall.

Lone Congress councillor Bhupendra Solanki, while welcoming the appointments, reminded the new mayor that controversies between the commissioner and the elected wing had brought development work to a standstill in the past few months.

Criticising groupism in the ruling party in SMC, Solanki expressed fear that the new mayor would be remote-controlled by the Hajuria faction.

Former mayor Ajit Desai said, ``It is a matter of pride that both the mayor and the deputy mayor are teachers by profession.''

In an obvious reference to Municipal Commissioner S Jagadeesan, leader of the house Fakirbhai Chauhan, who is known not to have a good rapport with the civic chief, said though there were controversies and confrontations between the mayor and the commissioner in all civic bodies, they should realise that all of them have same destination and objective to achieve.

``They need not to be so egoistic. We have to go a long way to fulfill the promises we have made to the people of the city'', he said.

Standing committee chairman Natu Soma Patel expressed regret that during Jagadeesan's tenure, the elected and administrative wings seemed to be functioning in an uncoordinated manner.