Hyderabad Mayor in fresh row after comments on power disruption

The newly-elected Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi found herself in fresh controversy when she asked for a generator due to frequent disruption of power supply. In doing so, she unintentionally contradicted the TRS government’s claim of providing uninterrupted power supply in Telangana.

On March 2, the Mayor had sent a letter to the GHMC commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar, requesting him to set up a 25 KW generator in her office-cum residence immediately, claiming that there were constant power outages causing inconvenience. This letter got leaked to the media, prompting the Mayor to issue a clarification. The issue became controversial because the TRS government’s primary boast is providing 24/7 supply across the state. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had promised to make Telangana from a power deficit state to a power surplus state in his election manifesto in 2014, which the party claims to have achieved the same.  

Following the controversy, Mayor Vijayalakshmi, in a statement to the media, had said, “At my residence, a new power line is being laid, resulting in power outages. Hence, I requested for a temporary generator to the Commissioner so that no work gets disrupted.” She added that media reports quoting her saying that Hyderabad suffers constant power outages are false. “I severely condemn this sort of misleading news,” she said.

Besides this, the Mayor was also dragged into two other controversies in a short span. Recently, she was accused of violating the Model Code of Conduct by posing with a TRS pamphlet inside the GHMC office seeking support for Surabhi Vani, who is contesting in the MLC election. 

In another controversy, a misleading video of her saying that she prays there will be no rains in Hyderabad for the next five years, went viral. The Mayor had clarified that the video was edited with malafide intentions. She explained that in response to a question by a reporter regarding the Hyderabad floods of 2020, she had made the statement, meaning that she wishes that the city doesn’t get flooded again.