Hyderabad mayor’s resignation rejected

March 22, 2014 04:26 pm | Updated May 19, 2016 10:44 am IST - HYDERABAD

Amid high drama and apparently driven by political equations emerging for the upcoming elections to the State Assembly, the resignation of Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain was rejected by the general council of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Saturday.

Mr. Hussain of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) had submitted his resignation on March 7 citing instructions from his party. The move was presented as honouring the agreement with Congress on seat-sharing but it was widely speculated that Mr. Hussain was being readied by the party to join the fray for one of the Assembly constituencies in the city.

As per the procedure, the GHMC council had to accept the resignation before it was sent to the government and state election commission and Saturday’s special meeting was called for this purpose.

However, starting almost 90 minutes behind the scheduled time, the council meeting hardly lasted for 10 minutes before it rejected the resignation. Though the Mayor announced at the outset that no discussions were allowed except the agenda, as per the instructions from the office of Chief Electoral Officer, the TDP and BJP floor leaders caused interruptions seeking details on what prompted him to resign and then led a walkout.

The Congress Floor Leader, Diddi Rambabu, said his party has rejected the resignation and he was followed by MIM Floor Leader, Mohammed Naziruddin, who said they had no objection to it. The Mayor concluded the meeting stating that the council did not accept the resignation.

Later, speaking to presspersons, Mr. Rambabu said his party and the MIM had worked together cohesively and would continue to do the same. Once the Assembly and Parliament elections were completed, Mr. Rambabu said, the Mayor perhaps would resign again in May or June, and then Congress gets the post till the end of the present term i.e., the year-end.

TDP Floor Leader, Singireddy Srinivas Reddy questioned how the Mayor could resign when many developmental works in the city were hit and wanted to know the political compulsions behind the move.

With the council refusing to approve the resignation, Mr. Hussain would continue to hold the Mayor’s office. At the same time, continuing to don the Mayoral gown would not hinder him from contesting in the coming elections, if the MIM decides to field him either for Assembly or Parliament.

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