Congress set to clinch Telangana's Nizamabad mayor post with AIMIM backing
NIZAMABAD : The Congress on Saturday appeared set to win the Nizamabad mayor post despite winning only 17 of the 60 divisions in the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation (NMC). The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party with 28 divisions, appeared to have abandoned efforts, with its MP Dharmapuri Arvind saying that the party would play the role of a constructive opposition.
Sources said the AIMIM has pledged the support of its 14 corporators to the Congress, in exchange for the deputy mayor post.
In addition, the lone BRS member elected to the civic body has aligned with the ruling party. Of the five ex officio members, the BJP has three and the Congress two.
With the backing of its two ex officio members, the Congress strength is expected to rise to 34, one more than the required majority of 33 to win the mayor post.
The Congress leadership is reportedly considering Pachreddy Lalitha from Division 21 and Kurgayala Umarani from Division 49 for the mayor’s post. Senior Congress leaders are said to have discussed the mayoral election in Hyderabad.
Nizamabad DCC president K Nagesh Reddy said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and TPCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud would finalise the mayoral candidate after consultations with newly elected corporators and party leaders. The selected names would be sent to the District Congress Committee and the city Congress president in a sealed cover and opened in the presence of state government flagship programmes adviser P Sudharshan Reddy and other leaders ahead of the mayoral election scheduled for Monday.
The BJP had held the municipal chair for two terms earlier but lost control after the subsequent reorganisation. In the 2020 elections, it contested on the plank of renaming Nizamabad as Indur and won 28 seats. This time, the party fielded BJP state secretary Gopidi Sravanthi Reddy as its mayoral candidate, retaining the same agenda.
In the current NMC elections, the BJP won 28 of the 60 seats and, with three ex officio members, its total rose to 31, short of the required majority of 33. The party attempted to seek the support of the lone BRS corporator.
Sources said that after the results, the BRS member visited the residence of a former MLA in Nizamabad, where discussions were held. As talks progressed, Congress leaders also approached the corporator’s family husband. Tensions rose as activists from both parties gathered at the residence, leading to a clash. Police intervened to restore order and disperse the groups.
Following these developments, Arvind said that it was decided to withdraw the BJP’s bid for the mayor post due to difficulties in securing the support of two to three additional members.
Arvind also accused the BRS of acting under Congress influence and criticised what he described as a lack of political decency. He said the BJP had not invited corporators from other parties to defect for the sake of winning the mayor’s post.