A technical hitch over the Chief Minister K. Rosaiah travelling in his official vehicle to exercise his franchise in the Legislative Council elections on Friday was sorted out without allowing it to become a controversy.
The Chief Minister entered the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) office near the Tank Bund in a convoy of vehicles to cast his vote. Later, he visited the chambers of the Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy and spent some time meeting the officials. Doubts were raised whether the Chief Minister had violated the model code of conduct by travelling in a convoy. However, officials were quick to clarify that as the Chief Minister was under ‘Z' category protection, he was entitled to travel in the bullet- proof vehicle. They reasoned that the Chief Minister's security wing had issued instructions that the VVIP could not travel in a vehicle other than a bullet-proof one. A senior official said Mr. Rosaiah had not violated the code as officials had already paid the user fee for the official vehicles used by the Chief Minister. A sum of Rs. 100 was paid for the distance of 100 metres travelled by his vehicle.
