Nearly 10 days after the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) polls got over,the Congress,despite claiming to have the support of the highest number of independent candidates,has been unable to finalise names for the Mayors post. With the heat being turned on by other parties who are also engaged in wooing independents,Congress sources are now admitting that the party high command erred in not giving its symbol to the candidates during the elections. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is said to have met senior party MPs and leaders on Monday to zero in on names for the mayor,senior deputy mayor and deputy mayors posts. No concrete answers could,however,be reached during the meeting. Congress district president G L Sharma maintained that according to the rules,a meeting with councillors and the administration has to take place within a month of the poll dates. It will be called sometime around June 14,after the names are finalised, Sharma said. Sources said senior Congress leaders are presently confused as over 10 councillors have expressed their desire to become mayor. More than 10 elected candidates want to be mayor. This makes our task very difficult, said a senior congress leader. The Congress had neither released a list of candidates it was supporting,nor given the party symbol to the candidates they were supporting. Congress leaders had,however,held various public meetings to favour their candidates. The party now claims that they have the support of around 22 elected independents,which is a clear majority. INLD,six of whose candidates won the elections,has made it clear that it is open to collaborations with any party that opposes the Congress,even if that means tying up with the BJP,four of whose candidates have won in the polls.
