The Telangana Rashtra Samithi, slowly but eventually, won the vice-chairman seat of Nalgonda municipality, amid betrayal of trust claims by the Bharatiya Janata Party, here on Monday. With 20 ward councillors, an AIMIM and an Independent candidate on its side, the TRS numbers with the votes of five ex-officio members rose to 27, same as during the election of its chairman M. Saidi Reddy, to elect Abbagoni Ramesh on Monday.
The Congress, which had also won 20 wards, remained handicapped with no possibility of a post-poll alliance, the only option being to ally with BJP who won six wards, or had sufficient ex-officio options.
But by the time Chairman voting was about to begin on January 27, speculation was rife that the BJP was extending support, as ‘strategic silence’ during voting, to the TRS in lieu of vice-chairman seat. The BJP had also announced that its chairman candidate Bandaru Prasad would be elected the vice-chairman.
However, soon after the Chairperson election, all the 27 voters of the TRS walked out, postponing the proceedings for the vice-chairman election for lack of quorum.
Voting on the subsequent day, as directed by the State Election Commission, was also postponed for lack of quorum as councillors of the TRS and the BJP remained absent.
The six aggrieved councillors of the BJP who addressed the press after the voting on Monday, for the first time disclosed that it “entered into a written agreement with the TRS for chairperson and vice-Chairperson election.”
“We decided to support TRS, not for the vice-chairman seat, but for development of Nalgonda. TRS betrayed us, like they betrayed Sonia Gandhi,” the BJP leaders said.
When enquired, Mr. Prasad said he would disclose the written agreement to media later, and said Zilla Parishad Chairman Banda Narender Reddy, MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy and Kancharla Krishna Reddy held the consultations.
Mr. Rajeshwar Reddy, later speaking to press, rebutted all the claims of the BJP.
“We do not have any agreement with BJP. The TRS went alone, following the party guidelines, and will always move with a secular agenda,” he said.