CHITTOOR: Stalemate over the selection of the new Mayor continues as it has turned out to be a tough task for Telugu Desam Party supremo and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
On November 17 last year, Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan were murdered, plunging the civic administration into a crisis.
Initially, senior party leaders in the district expected that a woman member from the Katari family would be installed as the new Mayor within six months. But that did not happen. Later, groupism raised its hood in the party.
However, the political scenario is gradually getting charged up following the High Court’s direction last week that officials pave the way for the election of a new Mayor from among the eligible BC women corporators.
At present, in-charge Mayor Subramanyam is holding the corporation’s reigns.
The Mayor post in Chittoor is reserved for BC-Woman. The TDP commands a strength of 32 corporators in the 50-division House.
Three months ago, two women BC corporators approached the court seeking its directive to clear the decks for the election of the new Mayor and end the rule of the in-charge Mayor.
Senior TDP leaders say that much time has been lost waiting for the by-elections to the Ganganapalle and Mittur divisions that fell vacant following the double murder. They say that in the absence of a regular Mayor, the civic administration has taken a beating.
Katari Praveen, son of the slain Mayor, has been trying for the last one year to garner the support of influential leaders in the district for the selection of his wife to the coveted post.
However, party cadres hailing from the BC communities argue that though the Katari family represents the dominant Balija community, it had succeeded in cornering the Mayor post by technically manipulating the BC- Woman category stipulation in favour of Anuradha, and that the same parameter is being used to benefit her daughter-in-law.
Meanwhile, the name of Division III corporator Nalini is being heard as the possible candidate for the Mayor post.
Hailing from the dominant Mudaliar community in the Tamil-speaking Chittoor corporation, her family is considered influential, with long-standing political background.
This being the scenario, the Chief minister is likely to depute a party observer in a few days to finalise the candidate for the post, says a senior party leader.
