Mayors of UP civic bodies sworn in

The newly-elected mayors of Ghaziabad, Ayodhya and Meerut were sworn in at different ceremonies across Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

Asha Sharma took oath as Ghaziabad Mayor at the city's Ramlila Ground along with her team.

Divisional Commissioner Prabhat Kumar administered the oath of office to Sharma, while the new Mayor administered the oath to the other councillors.

Rishikesh Upadhyaya took oath as Mayor of Ayodhya. This was the first time that the temple town got a mayor, after Faizabad was declared a municipal corporation.

Upadhyaya was sworn in by Commissioner Manoj Mishra, in the presence of hundreds of his supporters, BJP workers, officials and representatives of the saint community. There was chanting of hymns by saffron robed seers.

The Samajwadi Party boycotted the ceremony alleging "saffronisation".

Ruckus broke out at the swearing-in ceremony of the Mayor of Meerut as corporators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) clashed.

While the BSP corporators shouted 'Jai Bheem', the BJP corporators shouted 'Modi Modi'. Things got rough when the newly elected BSP Mayor Suneeta Verma, did not stand up for the national song "Vande Mataram".

She later relented as the BJP corporators tried to disrupt the proceedings.

--IANS

md/in/vm