VISAKHAPATNAM: G. Ramamurthy Naidu was on Monday unanimously elected Visakhapatnam zilla parishad chairman. His being the only nomination filed, with the mandatory B-form, district Collector and Presiding Officer A.K. Singhal declared him elected to the post. His name was proposed by Munagapaka ZPTC M. Sanjiva Rao and seconded by Elamanchili ZPTC A. Sridhar. Samidi Ravisankar, Hukumpeta ZPTC, was unanimously elected vice-chairman. Both of them took the oath of office immediately after their election. The election was a smooth process with the Congress having 23 ZPTCs, a clear majority, in a total of 39. The TDP has 14 and the CPI and the CPI(M) one each.

Coopted members

Earlier in the noon, 38 ZPTC members took the oath assuming office. Mr. Singhal declared elected two members Md. Ibrahim and W. Peter as co-option members as only two nominations were received. The TDP ZPTC members who were present in the morning and took the oath were conspicuous by their absence during the election of the ZP chairman and vice-chairman. Sabbvaram ZPTC Rongali Sriramulamma (TDP) who did not turn up in the morning took her oath in the afternoon. Congress members wore traditional kanduvas while TDP men sported yellow kanduvas. The Left party members wore red shirts.

The Congress ZPTC members arrived by a bus from Rambilli where a "camp" was held for them. They were accompanied by DCC president and MLA Gandi Babji and MLAs Karanam Dharmasri and Kannababu. MLAs Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao, Karri Sitaram, P. Mangapathi Rao and T. Gurumurthy Reddy were present during the oath-taking.

For the 57-year-old Ramamurthy Naidu elected from Rolugunta, the ZP chairman post is the first major position of power. His name had been doing the rounds right from the time the election was announced and the reservation for BC category. He was the unanimous choice of the party for the post with the caste equation working in his favour.

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