GHMC council rejects Mayor Majid's resignation

Hyderabad, March 22 (INN): In an interesting turn of events, the general council of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Saturday rejected the resignation of Mayor Mohammad Majid Hussain and therefore, he would continue on the post.

The GHMC council which met here on Saturday at the GHMC headquarters, refused to accept the Mayor's resignation. During the 15-minute long meeting, the council was almost unanimous on rejecting the resignation.

The council's meeting, which was originally scheduled at 10.30 AM, began only at 12 noon. Majid Hussain then read out a few excerpt of his resignation letter and requested the council to accept his resignation letter.

In a surprising move, Congress floor leader Diddi Rambabu announced that his party was rejecting the Mayor's resignation. He said that the timing of resignation was not appropriate and therefore, his party would not support it.

The real twist was brought by none other than the MIM floor leader Md Nazeeruddin. He announced that if a majority of members in the council were against the Mayor's resignation, then his party too would reject Majid Hussain's resignation.

These two statements, made by the Congress and MIM leaders, made it clear that Majid Hussain's resignation was bound to be rejected and he would be asked to continue on the post.

Speaking on the issue, TDP floor leader Singireddy Srinivas Reddy refused to accept the resignation and asked the Mayor to explain the real reasons that forced him to submit the resignation.

He said the resignation, at this point of time, would halt the developmental process in the GHMC. In his reply, Majid Hussain said that the reasons were personal and he could not answer them due to Model Code of Conduct.

Later, the TDP and also the BJP corporators led by floor leader Bangari Prakash staged a walkout from the council. Nearly 15-mintue long proceedings concluded with the GHMC council unanimously rejecting Majid Hussain's resignation while asking him to continue on the spot.

It may be mentioned that Majid Hussain resigned from his pot on March 7 and today's council meeting was convened to discuss the same. After handing over the notice of resignation to GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar, the Mayor had stated that he was quitting the post as per the directive of MIM President Asaduddin Owaisi.

"This in pursuant to the understanding that had been reached with the Congress party for sharing the post of GHMC Mayor by turns during the five-year tenure of the present elected body," he said.

However, it is yet to be clarified as to what forced the Congress and MIM to shelve the power-sharing agreement after asking the Mayor to submit his resignation.