Lady luck smiled once again on Konduru Ravinder Rao, who was elected chairman of District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB) for the third time in Karimnagar on Saturday. He was elected unopposed from Gambhiraopet cooperative society, with the party high command recommending the continuation of his candidature for the post and also as chairman of Telangana State Co-operative Apex Bank (TSCAB).
During the formal conduct of election of DCCB chairperson, Mr Ravinder Rao alone filed the nomination and was, thus, elected. He was first elected as DCCB chairman in 2005 and then in 2013. He became TSCAB chief after the bifurcation of the State in 2015. He had won accolades for bringing in several reforms in the cooperative bank and helping it run in profit.
On the other hand, Allela Srikanth Reddy of Dharmapuri was elected chairman of District Cooperative Marketing Society (DCMS).
Speaker’s son elected
Pocharam Bhaskar Reddy, younger son of Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, and Sambari Mohan were elected unopposed as chairperson of the DCCB and DCMS respectively, on Saturday.
Mr. Bhaskar Reddy was earlier elected chairman of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) from Desaipet and Mr. Mohan from Nallavelli.
Minister for Roads and Buildings V. Prashanth Reddy read out the decision of the party leadership. He played a key role right from the filing of nominations to pacifying dissidents in the party. Talking to mediapersons later, he said TRS got a landslide victory in the cooperative elections by winning 136 out of 144 PACS in the integrated old district.
The Minister said of the 30 director posts in DCCB and DCMS, TRS won 29 and election was not held for one post.
SC leader wins
Namdev Kamble, chairman of Narnoor PACS, was elected chairman of Adilabad DCCB here on Saturday. The election of the Scheduled Caste leader was unopposed as the ruling TRS had recommended his name along with that of three others for the post of DCCB chairperson and vice-chairperson, as well as DCMS vice-chairperson.
Mr. Kamble is a DCCM managing committee director from Narnoor in Adilabad district and a veteran of the cooperative movement. He had served earlier as vice-chairman of the organisation and chairman on the death of an incumbent in the 1990s.
The Dalit leader’s name came as a surprise as other directors, supported by Forest Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy and Adilabad MLA Jogu Ramanna had been circulating in political circles. The high command apparently thought it fit to nominate a non-controversial person acceptable to both sides to smother any problem in future.
Earlier in the day, the 18 directors of DCCB arrived from their ‘camp’ in Hyderabad to start the process of election with Mr. Kamble’s name being proposed by Tamsi director A. Bhoja Reddy and seconded by Mamda director Harish Rao.
Thippani Lingaiah, director from Luxettipet in Mancherial district, was elected DCMS president.
Big surprise
Kondapaka PACS chairman Chitti Devender Reddy was elected DCCB chairman for the second time. M. Shivakumar was elected chairman of DCMS.
M. Devender Reddy, chairman of Konapur PACS and husband of Medak MLA M. Padma, was expected to bag the top post but according to sources, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao opted for Mr. Chitti Devender Reddy for the post once again.
A sealed cover sent by the party leadership was reportedly opened on Friday night at a resort in the presence of Finance Minister T. Harish Rao.
Clean sweep
The ruling TRS made a clean sweep by winning the chairman and vice-chairman posts of both DCCB and DCMS.
Kurakula Nagabhushanam and Dondapati Venkateswara Rao were unanimously elected as the chairman and the vice-chairman of the DCCB here on Saturday. R. Seshagiri Rao and K. Srinivas Rao bagged the chairman and vice-chairman posts of DCMS unopposed.
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar congratulated the newly-elected heads of the two cooperative bodies here on Saturday afternoon.
Expected result
As had been predicted, Marneni Ravinder Rao was elected as DCCB chairperson here on Saturday.
Since the TRS reigned supreme in the recently held elections to the PACS, the appointment of DCCB chairperson was seen as just a formality. So was the appointment of Guguloth Ramaswamy Naik of Khanapur in Warangal Rural district as chairperson and vice-chairperson posts for the Orugallu DCMS.
Minister for Panchayat Raj E. Dayakar Rao and Minister for Tribal Welfare and Women Development Satyavathi Rathod disclosed the leadership’s choice for DCCB and ODCMS posts.
Mr. Ravinder Rao, who joined the TRS in 2008, actively participated in separate Telangana movement.
TRS leadership ensured representation from four districts – Warangal Urban, Rural, Jangaon and Mahabubabad. Though Warangal was split into six districts, DCCB and ODCMS have not been divided yet.
