VIJAYAWADA: The term of a Deputy Mayor is for five years, according to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act. But, the Congress party here has made it a tradition to elect a fresh Deputy Mayor every year. The same principle is being applied to the Mayor's post ever since elections to it were made indirect. Though it is time for Mayor Tadi Sakuntala to step down to pave way for a Congress candidate, different groups in the Congress are yet to reach a consensus on selection of the `right' person for the coveted job. Meanwhile, notwithstanding the confusion in the party ranks, the race for the Deputy Mayor's post is hotting up, with different sections and groups in the party staking a claim for it.

Long-pending demand

Senior corporator Samanthapudi Narasaraju, former Deputy Mayor Venkata Satyanarayana and SC corporator Meesala Rajeswara Rao are in a neck-and-neck race for the Deputy Mayor's post. It has been a long-pending demand of the SCs to make one of their corporators the Deputy Mayor. Mr. Rajeswara Rao belongs to the 12-member Lagadapati Rajagopal group and also has the strong support of the numerically strong Mala community. Leaders representing the community feel that the party has been generous to the Madiga community and now, it's their turn. If Mallika Begum, a corporator owing allegiance to Mr. Rajagopal, is chosen for the Mayor's post, Mr. Rajeswara Rao's chances will diminish. In such an eventuality, Mr. Narasaraju, a Kshatriya, will stand a better chance.

Mr. Satyanarayana of the Devineni Rajasekhar group is likely to stake his claim for the Deputy Mayor's post if M.V. Ratna Bindu, a follower of Vangaveeti Radha Krishna, is made the Mayor. One town corporator Yelakala Chalapathi Rao, an ardent supporter of the MP, is also nursing ambitions.

Opinions of the 20 women corporators who belong to the Congress and other parties (excluding the Left, of course) will also carry weight. There are two groups among women corporators. While Anne Prasanna, who was elected corporator for three consecutive terms, is the leader of one group and a new face in the general body, Veeramachineni Lalitha Devi heads the other. Whether or not any one of the three will land in the post depends on the dynamics in the three main groups in the party. The community represented by the candidate selected for the Mayor's post will also have a bearing on the candidature of the Deputy Mayor's post.

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