New Chandigarh mayor matches PM Modi’s story, rises to top post from a rag-picker

Chandigarh, Jan 21: For those who have been overwhelmed by the story of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who rose from a tea-seller to the country's top executive, here is another similar fascinating stuff.

Forty-six-year-old Rajesh Kalia, who became the mayor of Chandigarh city after winning an election on Saturday, January 19, was once a rag-picker with his father before entering politics in 1984. The man has studied till Class XII and used to pick rags at the dumping ground of Dadu Majra in Chandigarh.

The man joind the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and later helped the BJP in the Chandigarh municipal elections in 1996. He contested his first municipal polls in 2011 from the same Dadu Majra but lost to his Congress opponent. In 2016, he was elected as a councillor from Ward 7.

In the latest election, the man who hails from the Valmiki community got 16 out of 27 seats in the mayoral election.

Kalia had once led the garbage collectors' protest when the corporation of Chandigarh had decided to take over waste collection from independent collectors. Today, he himself is in the decision-maker's seat. He had also courted a controversy once after getting involved in a tiff with a medical officer.

"In the last few days, questions have been raised regarding my criminal background... I would like to clarify that those were simple cases of brawl and one of gambling, for which I was fined Rs 50," Kalia was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Kalia said after becoming the mayor that his first priority will be to get Chandigarh rid of dumping ground, besides implementing waste segregation mechanism.