BJP’s no-trust motion against Kashi panchayat chief falls through

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a major blow in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Friday as a no-confidence motion brought by the party against district panchayat president Aprajita Sonkar, who belongs to the Samajwadi Party, failed with none of the BJP members turning up for the voting.

A group of BJP leaders submitted papers to district magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra for bringing the no-confidence motion against Sonkar. The BJP claimed to have enjoyed the support of 32 district panchayat members out of 48 in the house.

District magistrate fixed July 28 for a discussion and voting on the no-confidence motion. All district panchayat members had to report by 11.30am. District magistrate Mishra and special chief judicial magistrate Umanath Jindal reached the meeting on time. District panchayat president Aprajita Sonkar, SP district unit chief Piyush Yadav, city unit president Rajkumar Jaiswal, former minsiter Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi, former Congress MLA Ajai Rai and Congress district unit president Prajanath Vishwakarma were present at the meeting. They waited for the BJP members, but none of them reached the venue by 11.30am.

After waiting for some more time, the special CJM and the DM left. As the BJP members didn’t turn up, the no-confidence motion brought by them failed.

Aprajit Sonkar will now continue as district panchayat president. “My supporters in the Samajwadi Party and the Congress backed me in this crisis. I am thankful to all of them,” Sonkar said. She alleged that the BJP leaders tried to pressure the SP members but failed to influence them. Sonkar, a B Tech degree holder, won the district panchayat president election in January 2016 for the first time.