Absentee corporator urges colleagues not to follow in his footsteps

Just days after he was appointed the leader of Opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Congress's Dnyanraj Nikam urged his fellow corporators from the party not to follow his example as far as attendance in the civic body is concerned.

Three-time corporator from Dongri, Nikam was tagged as the absentee corporator, having attended only 42 meetings out of 317 meetings in the last five years.

Welcoming the negative publicity he has been receiving following his appointment as the Leader of Opposition due to his low attendance record in the general body meetings of BMC, Nikam said, "This criticism should also be taken in a good spirit and I will now ensure that I have a good attendance as the Leader of Opposition. While there are other things I would want to teach other Congress corporators, I urge them not to follow my example as far as attendance is concerned".

"While the corporators might have learned not to miss the general body meetings after the media reports about me, I will still request them to have full attendance from now on, "said Nikam.

Nikam's appointment as the leader of Opposition had caused much discontent among other corporators due to his bad record of attendance and lack of popularity in the civic body.

Nikam, known to be close to former union minister Murli Deora, was last year also warned by senior leaders about his attendance in civic meetings. In reply to media reports of his poor attendance last year, Nikam said he did not see anything wrong in attending meetings. The work in his ward was enough for him to stay in touch with is voters.

Considered a dark horse for the coveted post of the leader of Opposition, Nikam's selection was sudden and unexpected. He was preferred over three-time corporator from Bhandup, Suresh Koparkar and Andheri corporator Devendra (Bala) Amberkar, who were seen as the frontrunners.

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