High drama precedes as TRS, TDP win ZP polls

HYDERABAD: The ruling TRS captured the Ranga Reddy zilla parishad in Telangana with the support of the TDP whereas yellow party's rebel candidate won the ZP chairman post in Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh with the help of YSR Congress in the elections held on Sunday.

Election to Nellore ZP chairperson's post in AP was again postponed because of lack of quorum amidst a tense situation as the leaders of the TDP and the YSRC for another time fought pitched battles with each other.

Interestingly, there is a commonality between the elections to ZPs of Ranga Reddy and Prakasam.

During the Ranga Reddy ZP polls, the ruling TRS and TDP joined hands with each other proving that 'there are no permanent friends or foes in politics'.

Following the efforts made by Telangana transport minister P Mahender Reddy, who was a TDP leader in the past, members of the TRS and the TDP came to an understanding and decided to support each other in the polls.

Though the TRS has insufficient numbers to win the ZP chairperson post, with the support of the TDP's ZPTCs, the pink party was able to capture the top post. Minister Mahender Reddy's wife and former ZP chairperson Sunitha Reddy was elected as the ZP chief of Ranga Reddy.

As per the agreement, the TRS gave the vice-chairman post to TDP member Prabhakar Reddy.

In fact, of the 33 ZPTC seats in Ranga Reddy ZP, earlier the Congress had 14 ZPTCs, the TRS 12 and the TDP seven. Following the defection of two Congress members to the pink party, TRS strength rose to 14 ZPTCs. With the support of the TDP's seven members, the ruling party won the ZP by securing 21 votes.

Coming to Prakasam ZP election, TDP's rebel candidate Eedara Haribabu, who had fought the election as an independent, emerged victorious with the support of the YSRC members. Haribabu got 28 (Of them 27 votes were from YSRC) votes whereas TDP nominee Manne Ravindra secured 27 votes.

This was akin to the election held to the Kurnool ZP where the YSRC's rebel candidate M Rajasekhara Goud was elected to the chairperson post with the support of the TDP members.

Earlier in the day, there were nerve-racking moments during the election to Prakasam ZP chairman post as both the TDP and the YSRC had equal numbers of ZPTCs (28 each). Several twists and turns took place during the polls since morning as both the parties had equal strength.

At that time, Markapur YSRC member Venkata Ranga Reddy was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in an SC/ST atrocity case. Following this, YSRC's strength dropped to 27.

Soon after that the TDP has named its candidate Manne Ravindra for the ZP chairman's post. Suddenly, TDP ZPTC Edara Haribabu, violating his party's whip, contested for the chairman post as an independent and won the election with the support of YSRC. YSRC member Balaji was elected as vice-chairman of Prakasam ZP.

Turning to the Nellore ZP polls, there were equally nail-biting moments. At first, there were heated arguments between the TDP and YSRC members.

As the members of both the parties were quarrelling with each other, election authorities asked ZPTCs of the TDP and the YSRC to sit separately in the ZP hall.

But, TDP leaders demanded that the officials allow the YSRC ZPTCs, who were supporting the ruling party, to sit along with them. However, the officials turned down their request. Because of this, the TDP members staged a protest in the hall.

Later, when the district collector asked the ZPTCs to sign the register, none of the TDP members came forward. Following this, the collector once gain postponed the election, saying that there was no quorum.