Elections to the municipal chairperson posts witnessed some tense moments in the undivided district with police resorting to mild lathicharge in at least two places.
At Bollaram, two groups of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — one represented by K. Bal Reddy (nine wards) and another by Chandra Reddy (eight wards) — won 17 wards. However, the groups fought for the chairperson post. Here, Congress won two wards while BJP bagged three. During the chairperson elections, Congress and BJP extended support to Bal Reddy group, whose strength rose to 14, thereby providing them the opportunity to win the post and elect K. Roja Rani, wife of Mr. Bal Reddy. Vice-chairman post was given to Congress ward member A. Anil Reddy.
Tension prevailed for some time in the town and police were forced to lathicharge to control the agitating members of both groups. Superintendent of Police S. Chandrasekhar Reddy and DSP K. Sridhar Reddy were present throughout the day to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.
In case of Narayanakhed, TRS was able to win the municipality post with the support of Lok Sabha member B.B. Patil, MLA M. Bhupal Reddy and MLC Farooq Hussain, who cast their ex-officio vote.
At Cheriyal municipality, both Congress and TRS won five seats each while two independents were also elected. They extended support to TRS, paving the way for bagging the key post.
At Medak town, police had to use force to control the supporters of A. Mallikarjun Goud, who agitated for some time. Here, Mr. Goud expected the top post but TRS party leadership preferred T. Chandrapal. However, police controlled the agitators and saw that the election was held peacefully.
At Gajwel, 12th ward corporator V. Narayana Reddy resigned from the elected post and party primary membership protesting over selection of N. Rajamouli as chairman.
Tension prevailed for some time as supporters of R. Srisailam Goud (TRS) held protests as he was not offered chairman post for Toopran municipality.
