Banda Kartika Reddy is the new Mayor of Hyderabad as the Congress Party sprang a surprise in the last minute proposing her name at the special meeting of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Council here on Friday.
The first time corporator from Tarnaka was declared elected unopposed as no other candidate's name was proposed by any party. Majlis- e- Ittehadul Muslimeen's Jaffer Hussain is the new Deputy Mayor and he too was declared elected unopposed. He also is a first time corporator from Toli Chowki.
GHMC's first Mayor Ms. Kartika Reddy, a post-graduate in sociology, figured nowhere among the names bandied about in party circles. Her family political links and her husband, Banda Chandra Reddy's long association with the party, plus blessings from top leaders in New Delhi got her the post.But for her election, the programme was a tame affair.
With no contest and no voting, the meeting was over within an hour. Presiding Officer and Hyderabad District Collector Navin Mittal made the 150 corporators take oath before reading out the procedure for Mayor and Deputy Mayor election.
Most took oath in Telugu and Urdu, few in English and a lone member in Hindi – C. Devender Singh of Congress (Moghalpura). K. Venkatesham, Golnaka corporator, was the first to propose Ms. Kartika Reddy's name and was seconded by Jagadeeshwar Goud (Hafeezpet). They were followed by Adam Umadevi (Boudhanagar), Parameshwar Reddy (Ramanathapur), Sheikh Sharif (Khairatabad) and N. Suresh (Nacharam), also proposing and seconding her name.
With all three nominations proposed by Congress corporators found to be in order by Observer and Labour Commissioner D. Srinivasulu, Mr. Mittal declared Ms. Kartika Reddy elected as Mayor. Mr. Hussain's candidature for Deputy Mayor was proposed by former Mayor Zulfiqar Ali (Hussainialam) and seconded by Syed Minhajuddin (Akbarbagh). Second proposer was a Congressman – Ayub Khan (Sanatnagar) and seconded by another colleague of his, Adam Vijaykumar (Sitaphalmandi); third proposer was Mohd. Nazeeruddin (Jambagh) and Mirza Mustafa Baig (Riasatnagar).
With papers found to be in order, Ms. Hussain too was declared elected. Ministers Sabita Indra Reddy, Mukesh, MPs Asaduddin Owaisi, K.V. P. Ramachandra Rao, V. Hanumantha Rao, Anjan Kumar Yadav, and others were present.
