Congress wins Jagtial civic chief post

KARIMNAGAR: The BRS has lost the Jagtial municipal chairperson post to the Congress as the majority of councillors voted against BRS nominee Namindla Vani and in support of Congress-supported Aduvala Jyothi at a council meeting held in Jagtial on Wednesday.

The Jagtial municipal chief post was reserved for BC women. Dr Boga Shravani was elected as the chairperson from the BRS. However, she resigned from the post and the party one year back due to her differences with MLA Dr Sanjay Kumar and joined the BJP. Since then, vice-chairman Goli Srinivas had been acting as the incharge chairman. Of the total 47 councillors, the BRS has 36, Congress won five, the BJP had three, one of AIMIM and two independent councillors.

MLA Dr. Sanjay Kumar of the BRS issued a whip against the BRS councillors and resorted to camp politics by insisting they elect the party’s nominee Vani.

In Wednesday’s council meeting, a total of 44 councillors took part in the voting. Of them, 35 were the BRS councillors, five of Congress, three of BJP and one MIM councillor.

Nineteen out of the 35 BRS councillors voted for Jyothi, violating the whip issued by the party MLA.

Later, all the 28 councillors, who voted for the Jyothi, took part in the celebrations led by Congress leader Thatiparti Ramchandra Reddy and former municipal chairperson T. Vijaya Lakshmi at Indira Bhavan in Jagtial.