VIJAYAWADA: City Mayor Koneru Sreedhar on Saturday expressed his desire to contest as an MLA from Vijayawada (East) in the coming elections, if the TDP allows him. This statement from Sreedhar, a three-time corporator, once again brought to the fore the his differences with Gadde Ramamohana Rao, who represents the constituency. Though the two publicly deny any rift between them.
''During the past three decades, I have developed a strong political base in the constituency. I know personally most of the people living in these areas. So I am interested in contesting as legislator from the constituency'', Sreedhar told mediapersons in his chamber. He expressed the hope that the party leadership would give him a chance this time and, in the same breathe, he said even if he was not given a party ticket he would still strive for the victory of any candidate of party's choice.
Sreedhar slammed the opposition YSR Congress corporators for raising slogans against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu over special category status issue during the recent council meeting. ''It's not a good practice for the opposition corporators to criticize the Chief Minister. They should tender an apology for their behaviour," he said.
Commenting on the poor state of traffic signals and other infrastructure problems in the city, mayor said that several appeals were made to the government and the officials concerned seeking a share in vehicle tax collected in Vijayawada. "At present, the civic body is getting only two per cent of the funds for maintenance of roads in the city and it has become a herculean task for the corporation to maintain them," he said.
"The police department collects about Rs 5 crore as fines a year but does nothing for development of roads. Recently a proposal was also submitted to DGP M Malakondaiah urging him to consider the genuine concerns for the sustainability of VMC," he said. Measures are also being taken to resume the construction of multi-storeyed office of VMC. ''So far, the civic body has spent Rs 8 crore on it and remaining works will be completed by availing loan from HUDCO after getting nod from the State government'', Sreedhar added.