GUNTUR: The political landscape in the erstwhile Guntur district is likely to witness a significant makeover as the ruling Telugu Desam Party is making strategic moves to strengthen its hold on local bodies. YSRC suffered a major blow as TDP wrested Macherla Municipality after a majority of 17 councilors crossed over after the arrest of former YSRC MLA Pinneli Ramakrishna Reddy.
Vice chairman of the local body Narasimha Rao, who switched over to TDP, was elected as chairman. This came as a huge shock to the party leaders in the entire district, as Macherla has been a bastion of Pinneli’s family and YSRC. Guntur Zilla Parishad Chairperson Henry Christina was an early bird to move to TDP before the general elections 2024.
Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC), which has 57 divisions spread across the city may soon see a power shift as majority of the corporators are leaning towards TDP. It can be noted that YSRC secured a thumping victory after winning in 47 divisions, while TDP won in eight divisions, and JSP only two. After being refused of mayor post, GMC deputy mayor Shaik Sajeela jumped the boat to join TDP. After the TDP-led coalition stormed to power, as many as 15 corporators have recently resigned from YSRC.
According to the sources, as many as five corporators are likely to join JSP along with former YSRC MLA Kilari Rosaiah and others are reportedly eager to join the TDP and discussions are going on with MLAs Nazeer and Galla Madhavi.
If everything falls in place, TDP which currently has no significant representation in the GMC, could soon emerge as a strong force. On the other hand, some senior leaders in TDP are not happy with Rosaiah joining JSP. He met Deputy Chief Minister and JSP Chief Pawan Kalyan at his camp office in Mangalagiri and is likely to officially join the party in a couple of days.
Some leaders of the coalition are of the opinion that Pawan Kalyan, who came down heavily on Rosaiah during election campaign, welcoming him into the JSP fold readily might send a wrong message to other corrupt leaders and the cadres of the ruling tripartite alliance.