HYDERABAD: Elections to the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson of zilla parishads (ZPs) across Telangana witnessed beginning of a new “friendship” between the TDP and the Congress, traditional arch rivals.
True to the saying ‘Foe’s foe is friend’, the TDP and the Congress tried to forge friendship in some ZPs such as Warangal to prevent the ruling TRS from bagging the ZP chairman posts in the districts. However, the pink party successfully captured the ZP chairman posts in six districts, including Warangal, out of the seven districts for which indirect polls were held on Saturday.
The TRS comfortably won Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Mahbubnagar ZP chairperson posts. The party also came up trumps by bagging the Warangal ZP chief post by wooing some of the TDP and Congress ZPTC members to its side though it did not have sufficient numbers.
The TDP and the Congress reportedly came to an understanding to prevent the TRS from capturing the Warangal ZP.
As part of the deal, the Congress asked the TDP to back its ZP chairman candidate in lieu of allotting the vice-chairman post to the yellow party. But the plans of the TDP and the Congress went kaput with the TRS garnering support of some of the ZPTCs of the TDP and the Congress.
The Congress, on its part, had to satisfy itself with only the Nalgonda ZP chairperson post.
Election to Ranga Reddy ZP was postponed due to lack of quorum while election to the Khammam ZP was stayed by the high court in the wake of the Centre’s ordinance merging seven mandals in the district with Andhra Pradesh to facilitate construction of Polavaram irrigation project.
Unholy alliance: Harish
Meanwhile, Irrigation Minister and TRS leader T Harish Rao took a dig at the TDP and the Congress for joining hands in some ZPs to prevent the TRS from capturing the ZP chairman posts. “The TDP and the Congress forged a unholy alliance with each other to defeat TRS,” he said.
Earlier in the day, uproarious scenes were witnessed during the election to Warangal ZP chairperson post. When some of the Congress ZPTCs had voted for the TRS nominee, their colleagues tried to shout them down, leading to commotion. Congress leaders alleged that the ruling TRS had resorted to unethical practices of luring other party’s ZPTCs to win the ZP chairperson post.
Noisy scenes were also witnessed during the polls to Mahbubnagar ZP chairperson post when Congress ZPTCs led by former ministers DK Aruna and G Chinna Reddy tried to storm the collector’s podium alleging that the TRS lured seven of the Congress ZPTCs to its side. Amid unruly scenes, the collector administered oath of office to the newly-elected ZPTCs.
District-wise list of ZP chairpersons in Telangana
Adilabad- Vallakonda Sobha Rani (TRS)
Nizamabad- Dafedar Raju (TRS)
Karimnagar- Tula Uma (TRS)
Warangal- G Padma (TRS)
Medak- Rajamani (TRS)
Mahbubnagar-Bandari Bhaskar (TRS)
Nalgonda- Balu Naik (Congress)
Ranga Reddy- Election postponed due to lack of quorum.
Khammam- Election stayed by high court.