CHANDIGARH, June 12 — Nearly six months after the controversial reconstitution of the Administrator’s Advisory Council (AAC), the Chandigarh administration on Wednesday inducted six new members — five of them senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders — in what is being seen as an effort to calm internal party dissent.
The latest additions to the 54-member council include prominent BJP figures Satya Pal Jain, a former Member of Parliament and Additional Solicitor General of India, as well as senior leaders Sanjay Tandon and Davesh Moudgil — all returning to the body. Former city mayors Anup Gupta and Gian Chand Gupta have also been included, making the expansion heavily weighted in favour of the saffron party.
The sixth new entrant is Dr. Ravinder Nath, a resident of Dadumajra Colony. However, the changes came with exclusions as well. Notably, senior Congress leader and former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, who had long been associated with the AAC, was dropped from the panel. BJP veterans Arun Sood and Vineet Joshi, previously sidelined, have once again been left out.
The AAC, tasked with advising the UT administration on development policies and civic issues, was restructured in December 2024, reducing its size from 60 to 54 members. The current term began on January 1, 2025, and will run until December 31, 2026. So far, the council has convened only once — on February 4 — to deliberate on urban issues such as traffic congestion, encroachments, healthcare infrastructure, and changes to Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) housing norms.
The latest appointments are being interpreted as a corrective gesture by the administration after local BJP leaders had strongly criticized the December reshuffle, claiming it ignored seasoned party workers in favour of individuals aligned with new leadership.
“This move appears to be aimed at placating the city’s sidelined BJP leaders who had expressed resentment over being ignored earlier,” said a senior political observer.
However, the expansion has drawn criticism from opposition leaders. Vijaypal Singh, Chandigarh unit president of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), questioned the neutrality of the administration. “It seems the administration is no longer functioning independently. The inclusion of select BJP leaders in the supplementary list of the advisory committee reflects blatant political favouritism,” he said. “One wonders whether the decisions are being made in the Secretariat or at Kamalam,” referring to the BJP’s office in Sector 33.
Meanwhile, calls for broader representation have come from across the border. Former bureaucrat and Punjab BJP leader Jagmohan Singh Raju urged UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria to increase Punjab’s presence in the AAC. “Chandigarh, being Punjab’s capital, deserves adequate representation in shaping the city’s development and policies,” Raju said in a letter to the administrator.
As the council heads toward the midpoint of its two-year term, political fault lines appear sharper, with representation, regional equity, and administrative autonomy at the center of debate.
