Women's wait for prominent role in Telangana politics continues

Hyderabad: The decision by the TRS to pick Cherlapally corporator B. Rammohan as Hyderabad’s new mayor and Baba Fasiuddin as his deputy has set off murmurs that women have got a raw deal in the state.

Neither the state Cabinet nor the GHMC, which has the highest-ever percentage of women elected this time (79 of the 150 corporators are women), have any room for women.

Before the mayor’s election, speculations that Rajya Sabha member K. Kesava Rao’s daughter G. Vijayalaxmi was in the running for mayor’s post, and late P. Janardhan Reddy’s daughter Vijaya Reddy as her deputy, had sparked some hope among the women electorate.

In 2015, during an official meeting, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K. Kavitha had said, “It’s unfortunate and sad that the Cabinet doesn’t have a single woman member. However, it is a small Cabinet into which many sections have to be accommodated, which leaves little space for women”.  

The only woman from the ruling party who has been given a prominent post is Padma Devender Reddy, who is the Deputy Speaker in the state Legislative Assembly.

“We were expecting a woman mayor. The last was B. Karthika Reddy of the Congress. Since then, there hasn’t even been a woman deputy mayor. This council has the highest number of women corporators, at least, the deputy mayor’s post should been given to a woman,” said R.V. Sujatha, an advocate.