Hyderabad Mayor likely to be replaced

The probability that Hyderabad Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy will be able to chair the next General Council Meeting scheduled for December 21 seem remote, if ruling party and opposition Corporators are to be believed. Congress and Telugu Desam Party Corporators, on condition of anonymity, told INN that the issue of replacing the Mayor is under serious consideration by the Pradesh Congress Committee, after the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen demanded her replacement.

The Corporators said that Ms Karthika Reddy had invited the backlash from MIM on herself by complaining to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy about the ‘non-cooperative’ behaviour of the Standing Committee members of the MIM in the meetings. The Mayor had complained to KKR that the ‘adamant’ attitude of the MIM Members who refused to cooperate with the Standing Committee was denting the Congress image.

She is believed to have told the Chief Minister that the MIM, though an ally of the Congress, was acting as if it was the Opposition. Ms Karthika Reddy is believed to told KKR that the ‘non-cooperative’ attitude of the MIM was having an adverse impact on the Congress party image in the city.

Sources say that the MIM has taken these complaints seriously enough to press the Congress for a change of the Mayor. When asked to confirm if the MIM is indeed demanding a change of the Mayor, party Floor Leader declined to comment. Even Congress Floor Leader Kaleru Venkatesh said that there is no indication that the Mayor is going to change. But our sources in the GHMC insist that Ms Karthika Reddy is on her way out.

Ms Karthika Reddy may have been naive in complaining against an ally of the ruling party, sources said. According to sources, this very naivety will cost the Mayor her job. For the MIM, getting the Mayor changed would be quite easy, since the big party in the GHMC, the TDP has often enough complained that the real show was being run by Ms Karthi Reddy’s husband Chandra Reddy. There is no question that the Mayor can rely on the TDP to bail her out in the GHMC which is split almost three-way as far as number of Corporators are concerned.