New Delhi: BJP's Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay today resigned as the chairman of the Standing Committee of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to “focus on party responsibilities”.
“I have resigned as the chairman of SDMC's Standing Committee. I thought I was not being able to focus on two things. And, now I have to focus on party responsibilities,” Upadhyay told PTI after putting in his papers. Asked if the party was bracing up for the impending Delhi polls, the 52-year-old politician, who recently took over the party mantle, said, “we are ready for everything”.
“We are all charged up and our party is ready for everything. I now will be focussing on my party works after serving the municipal body for so many years,” he said. Upadhyay said he might have quit as the head of the civic body panel but, “I am still part of the ‘nigam' (corporation)”. “My experience of working with SDMC as a councillor will stand me in good stead ahead. It will only take me higher in my political career,” he said.
“I just had my last meeting (as part of the committee). And whether in the ruling party or in the opposition, it was a wonderful experience working at SDMC,” he said. Upadhyay became a councillor from Malviya Nagar in 2012, and assumed greater responsibilities as a chairman of the education committee of SDMC.
Helming the department, he brought pioneering changes including the installation of CCTV cameras in the mid-day meal kitchens of SDMC, the first municipal corporation to do so. “Even if I am leaving, our agenda here will still be there. There are able men who will carry forward the work, initiated by me, whether it is prompt delivery of birth and death certificates,or ‘dhalao-free' SDMC or ISO certifications for our medical services or quality education in our municipal schools,” he said.
After heading the education committee for two years, he was unanimously elected as the chairman of the standing committee of the south corporation earlier this year.