New VMC Mayor elected

Vijayawada, Nov 1 (UNI) Mallika Begum of the Congress was elected as the Mayor of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) at a special general body meeting convened here today.

The announcement was made by Krishna District Collector Navin Mittal who was the presiding officer for the election.

The special council meeting orginally scheduled to be held yesterday was postponed till this morning as Mr Mittal was away at Machilipatnam monitoring the cyclone relief work.

Interestingly, Ms Begum was elected with the support of CPI after the Congress corporators loyal to Vijayawada East Legislator Vangaveeti Radhakrishna failed to attend the meeting.

APCC President K Keshava Rao finalised the candidature of Mallika Begum, a protege of Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal at the end of an intense and heated discussion with Mr Radhakrishna whose nominee Rathna Bindu was tipped to assume the post.

Mr Rajagopal reportedly played the minority card and gained the support of leaders like Ahmed Patel and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Gulam Nabi Azad for Ms Begum's candidature.

As part of a compromise deal, Ms Begum would be the Mayor for the next two years while Ms Bindu would take charge for the last two years.

The election has become necessary in the wake of the resignation of CPI Nominee Tadi Sakuntala on October nine after her one-year tenure, as per a pre-poll pact with the Congress, ended.

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