Even as the TDP has won the majority of wards (18) in Tadipatri Municipality, leaving 16 wards to the YSRCP’s kitty, hectic political activities are on in both the camps to win the chairperson post.
The TDP is trying hard to keep its newly-elected council members together, while the YSRCP is leaving no stone unturned to seize the chairperson’s post through the votes of the ex-officio members.
The CPI has sent one member to the 36-member municipal council. An Independent candidate also won the polls. Both of them have supported the TDP.
Hence, the YSRCP was trying to win the chairperson’s election, to be held on March 18, by making three of its MLCs from the district opt for the ex-officio member of the council, in addition to Anantapur MP Talari Rangaiah and Tadipatri MLA Kethireddy Peddareddy.
However, the hopes of the party got dashed on Monday when the applications of the MLCs to the Tadipatri Municipal Commissioner to include them as the ex-officio members of the municipal council were rejected, along with that of the TDP MLC Deepak Reddy.
What the rules say
“Under the Rule 5-2 (4a), an MLC can opt for becoming the ex-officio member of the local body, in which his/her vote exists at the time of getting elected to that post. The application of Mr. Talari Rangaiah was accepted, while that of Vennapoosa Gopal Reddy, Pamidi Samanthakamani, Shaik Mohammed Iqbal, and Deepak Reddy were rejected,” Municipal Commissioner P. Narasimha Prasad told the media on Monday.
If all the YSRCP MLCs could have become the ex-officio members, they could have got their candidate elected as the chairperson of Tadipatri Municipal Council, as their strength would have gone up from 16 to 21 and that of the TDP including its allies and supporters would have been 20.
If Mr. Deepak Reddy also could have become an ex-officio member, it would have been a tie at 21-21. As on date, the strength of the YSRCP is 18 including the ex-officio members.
Meanwhile, the TDP has kept its flock of newly-elected councillors together at a camp in an undisclosed place and all of them are likely to arrive at Tadipatri only on March 18, just before the scheduled time for the election of the chairperson.
