After taking control of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) by engineering a split among the majority YSR Congress Party corporators, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its alliance partner, the Jana Sena Party (JSP), are now embroiled in internal conflict over the deputy mayor post.
Disagreements emerged between the two parties over which party’s corporator should be appointed deputy mayor, resulting in a lack of quorum and the postponement of the election scheduled for Monday.
Both TDP and Jana Sena leaders were vying for the position, but the alliance leadership failed to resolve the power struggle. Due to the absence of the required quorum, the election had to be deferred.
Of the required 56 corporators, only 54 attended Monday’s council meeting. The incident has exposed internal rifts within the alliance.
Reportedly, the TDP leadership had agreed to offer the deputy mayor post to a Jana Sena candidate, as the mayor position had already been given to the TDP.
However, TDP corporators were reportedly unwilling to cede the post to the Jana Sena.
The matter was brought to the attention of TDP general secretary and state IT minister Nara Lokesh, who expressed displeasure over the lack of coordination between the alliance partners.
Lokesh reportedly contacted party leaders to convey his dissatisfaction and specifically reprimanded TDP state president Palla Srinivasa Rao. Palla is said to have assured Lokesh that the election would definitely be conducted on Tuesday.
Sources indicated that all corporators and ex-officio members are expected to be present for Tuesday’s GVMC deputy mayor election.
