Hyderabad: Ruling MLAs giving tough time to party municipal chiefs

Hyderabad: The elected representatives of TRS are giving shock to their own municipal chairpersons by boycotting the meetings with the battle of supremacy between the chairperson and the local MLAs.

During the last few days, the councillors of the ruling TRS in a few municipalities skipped the meeting called by the chairperson. With ruling party members skipping, the officials are calling off the meetings with lack of quorum and this is making the opposition councillors fume.

The TRS councillors in Vikarabad municipality boycotted the budget meeting called by the chairperson Manjula. The chairperson waited for half an hour and announced that the meeting was postponed for want of quorum. In a body of 35 councillors, only five members came for the meeting on Wednesday. It is said that the rift between the chairperson and MLA M Anand was the reason behind the move of the councillors. The chairperson is said to have turned down the requisitions sent by the MLA, which led to differences between them.

Similarly, in Bhongir municipality three of the municipal councillors of the ruling party remained absent for the budget meeting called by the chairman E Anjaiah.

The BJP and Congress councillors, who witnessed that there were no TRS members, came out without signing the register and staged a protest outside the meeting hall. The budget meeting had to be postponed for lack of quorum. There are 35 councillors in the municipality and 18 are required to attend the meeting but because of the absence of three members, there were only 15 members in the meeting hall. The opposition councillors alleged that the TRS members were unhappy because there was no development in the municipality. The funds were diverted elsewhere hence the councillors left the meeting. This is not the first time the councillors have gone against the chairpersons in municipalities. Earlier, during December last year, all the corporators of TRS in Jawaharnagar Municipal Corporation boycotted the meeting alleging that the mayor and the commissioner were not taking up development works in the Corporation.

Sources said that the matter has now reached the Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao. It is learnt that the minister has sought a report on the issue. The party leadership would be seeking an explanation from the municipal chairpersons over the tussle.

According to the political analysts, there may be differences between the chairperson and MLA, but the civic body chief cannot be removed as there is no scope for no-confidence till four years.