VIJAYAWADA: Race for the reduced number of posts of co-opted members in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation general body is hotting up. Though the number of divisions has been increased, the State Government, without any explanation, has reduced the number of co-opted posts from seven to five.

According to the `Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act', three members should be selected for their "special knowledge on the Municipal Acts" and two more should be picked from minority communities. There is reservation for women in both these categories.

CPI seeks two posts

The ruling Congress-Left combine will get all the posts leaving nothing for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), though it has the second largest number of corporators in the general body. The Communist Party of India (CPI) is asking for two posts, one in each category, and their comrades belonging to the CPI (M) are, as usual, not interested in the posts.

Former corporators, who stepped aside to give others a chance, and party candidates who lost narrowly are aspiring for the posts of co-opted members.

Though the demand for the co-opted posts would have been much greater in the event of the State Government conferring voting powers on them, the posts still remained dearer with the reduction in their number. Former corporators -- Sampara Rambabu and V.Gurunadam -- are being heard as probable candidates of the Congress party. The names of Gogineni Sujatha and Alla Challa Rao who lost by narrow margin are also being seen as probable candidates.

Gangavarapu Adam, who is close to Minister for Municipal Administration Koneru Ranga Rao, Gummadi Jayaraj, a follower of Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, and Merugu Prasad, a pastor, who could not secure party ticket, are aspiring for the minority quota. While Mr. Rambabu seems to be the choicest candidate from Mr. Rajagopal's group, Mr. Challa Rao and Ms. Sujatha are being preferred by the group led by Kankipadu MLA Devineni Rajasekhar. Name of the candidate from the group of Vijayawada East MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, however, continues to be elusive.

Role of co-opted member

The advisory role of the co-opted member took a back seat in the previous general body with CPI corporator P. Gowtham Reddy, who was a co-opted member in the erstwhile body, taking an active role and leading his party men in walkouts and protests. Whether the new co-opted members will continue this trend is to be seen. Most of the corporators are, however, unclear about the process of selecting co-opted members. With Municipal Commissioner N. Gulzar being on leave, they do not know whom to approach even for information.

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