HYDERABAD: Two days after Valentine’s Day, love lingered across Telangana, with bitter political rivals finding comfort in unlikely company. It was not Cupid but calculation that guided these couplings, as parties kept a sharp eye on the fast-moving arithmetic behind the scramble for mayoral, chairperson and vice-chairperson posts across the state.
In municipality after municipality, ideology slipped into the background while numbers dictated the script.
Chairperson and vice-chairperson posts were split through mutual understandings, producing alliances that would once have seemed unthinkable. Arch-rivals Congress and BJP together secured control in some towns, while in others the BJP joined hands with the BRS.
In Adilabad and Kamareddy, the opposition BRS even aligned with its fierce rival, the ruling Congress, leaving local residents perplexed by the sudden intimacy of traditional adversaries.
In Jinnaram municipality, the BRS secured the council with BJP support. The Congress bagged Narasapur municipality, again with backing from the BJP, while in Kohir the AIMIM extended support to the Congress. At the corporation level, the BJP won the Karimnagar mayoral post, while the Congress clinched the mayor’s position in Nizamabad with the help of the MIM, shutting out the BJP despite it emerging as the single largest party in the council.
One image came to symbolise the season. BJP MP M Raghunandan Rao travelled in the same car as BRS MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy to cast his vote for a BRS chairperson in Isnapur municipality. There, the Congress, BRS and BJP together elected a BRS candidate as chairperson and a Congress candidate as vice-chairperson.
In Amangal, the Congress won just one councillor’s seat but still secured the chairperson post with BJP support. The BRS had won eight of the 15 wards, while the BJP had six. One BRS councillor, P Naik, switched allegiance to the Congress and became chairperson.
The BJP, which extended its support, took the vice-chairperson post in return. The Congress also benefited from two ex-officio votes. The developments sparked protests by BRS activists outside the municipal office, with slogans raised against the councillor who defected.
The Congress and BJP similarly shared the chairperson and vice-chairperson posts in Narasapur. In Bhainsa municipality, all three rivals — Congress, BJP and MIM — backed an Independent councillor as chairman.
Kamareddy municipality saw a negotiated settlement between the Congress and the BRS, with the two agreeing to share the chairperson and vice-chairperson posts. In Amarchintha, BRS councillor Suvarna joined the Congress and was supported by the CPM. In Gadwal, BJP councillors abstained from voting, paving the way for the unanimous election of a Congress candidate as chairman.
Across the state, the BJP alternated between supporting the BRS and the Congress, while Congress and the BRS clasped hands when the numbers left little choice. In Asifabad, ward No. 13 councillor Gunda Sneha, elected on a Congress ticket, stayed with the Congress camp at a secluded location for three days but changed sides on voting day to support the BRS chairperson.
With nine wards, one ex-officio vote and Sneha’s backing, the BRS secured the chairperson post. In Adilabad, the BRS, Congress and AIMIM together elected an Independent candidate as chairman.
Not all alliances were calm.
Tension prevailed in Jangaon, Thorrur, Jagtial and Ibrahimpatnam as rival groups clashed. In Metpally, the BJP won ten wards, but a last-minute defection by one BJP councillor helped the Congress candidate secure the chairperson post. In the aftermath, BJP workers attacked the residence of the BJP Jagtial district president and damaged furniture, alleging that no whip had been issued to ward members.
Meanwhile, disturbances and a lack of quorum forced the postponement of elections to chairperson and vice-chairperson posts in 11 municipalities, bringing a temporary pause to a season in which political rivals embraced, parted and realigned with striking ease.
Independent ends MIM’s dominance in Bhainsa
Adilabad: The BJP-supported Independent candidate Thumolla Dathatri was elected as the chairman of Bhainsa Municipality, ending the AIMIM’s 15-year dominance in this civic body. Another Independent candidate Khatija Siddiqui, a minority community member, was elected as vice-chairperson.
BRS cadre accuse Pratap of ‘selling’ post in Gajwel
Siddipet: In an embarrassing development for BRS, a few party workers staged a protest in Gajwel on Monday, accusing party in-charge Pratap Reddy of “selling” the chairperson post. They claimed that though the post was promised to Padmabai, the party in-charged ensured the election of Gangishsetti Chandana for the sake of money. It may be mentioned here that BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao represents the Gajwel segment in the state Assembly.