Hyderabad: Following Congress’s landslide victory in the Telangana municipal elections, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has asked party leaders to take control of municipalities with hung results, sources said.
The results of the elections held on February 11 in 116 municipalities and seven municipal corporations were declared on Friday, February 13. The ruling Congress won 66 municipalities, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won 13. No party secured a clear majority in 36 municipalities. Similarly, Congress secured a clear majority in four municipal corporations, while the CPI, AIMIM, and BJP each secured a lead in one municipal corporation.
Congress sources told ETV Bharat that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has instructed ministers and senior party leaders to develop a strong strategy to “take control” of the hung municipalities and corporations.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy reportedly told party leaders and workers at a meeting held at the camp office in Jubilee Hills on Saturday to review the election results, “Every vote in the municipalities is crucial. Ministers and senior party leaders should be vigilant. Independent candidates and those from other parties who wish to join the Congress should be identified and included.”
The Chief Minister congratulated all ministers for the party’s strong results in the municipal elections. The ministers cited statistics showing that Congress candidates won a record number of municipalities, a feat never seen before. According to sources, party leaders told Chief Minister Reddy that if the hung municipalities are captured with the right strategy, Congress will capture over 90 municipalities.
Sources said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy discussed strategies with party leaders and ministers to secure municipalities where no party secured a majority. He directed the ministers in charge to work hard to secure municipalities in their jurisdictions that saw hung elections.
According to reports, Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao, Sridhar Babu, and Ponnam Prabhakar have been assigned responsibility for the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation. Similarly, Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, Congress State President Mahesh Kumar Goud, and Minister Adluri Laxman Kumar have been assigned the responsibility of securing Jagityala and Raikal municipalities, and Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has been assigned the responsibility of coordinating with the CPI and securing the chairman’s post in Kothagudem.
Chief Minister Reddy suggested that the ministers in charge should take responsibility for negotiating with councilors from AIMIM and Left parties, as votes have become crucial in some municipalities. He has ordered that Congress councillors and their supporters be immediately relocated to camps in Hyderabad or elsewhere until the election of the chairperson and mayor is completed.
According to sources, the Chief Minister congratulated party leaders and workers for the Congress’s landslide victory in the elections and praised his government’s welfare work for the common people over the past two years in power in the state. He said, “These results are proof that people’s trust in development, welfare schemes, and public governance has increased. In this spirit, the development and welfare programs implemented by the state government should be taken to the people from time to time.”
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers Adluri Laxman Kumar, Seethakka, Konda Surekha, Vakti Srihari, Azharuddin, Vivek, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Sridhar Babu, and Congress State President Mahesh Kumar Goud participated in the review meeting. Telangana Congress in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and Uttam Kumar Reddy participated via Zoom.
