The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : On the Mayor's seat at long last!

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Friday, Feb 09, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

On the Mayor's seat at long last!

Staff Reporter

Deputy Mayor's wish to sit in the Mayor's chair and don the ceremonial robe is fulfilled

PARTING GESTURE: Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy drapes the Mayoral robes on Deputy Mayor Subhash Chanderji at the last general body meeting in Hyderabad on Thursday. On the left is Commissioner Sanjay Jaju. — PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

HYDERABAD: Amid a spirit of camaraderie and bonhomie, mutual exchange of congratulations between corporators and officials, the last meeting of MCH's elected council on Thursday turned out to be an eventful one for Deputy Mayor G. Subash Chanderji.

His fervent wish to sit in the Mayor's chair and wear the ceremonial robe at least once was at last fulfilled! Joyous and emotional scenes were on display when Mayor T. Krishna Reddy draped the robe on Mr. Chanderji and also made him sit on the big seat.

Deeply moved

Of course, it was only after the Mayor declared the meeting closed to be followed by the felicitations' function. Nevertheless, the Deputy Mayor was deeply moved and touched Mr. Reddy's feet. "I always treated him with respect and as the first citizen of the city," he said.

The Mayor claimed that a few `technical issues' prevented him from yielding to Mr. Subash Chaderji but he held him in very high esteem. Earlier, corporators including BJP floor leader Shyam Sundar Goud, Congress' P. Narayana Swamy and others regretted that Mr. Chanderji was not given a `single chance' to preside over either the standing committee or general body.

The Deputy Mayor during his thanksgiving speech pointed out that adequate powers were being denied to local bodies despite a constitutional amendment to empower them. "The Mayor does not have sufficient powers while the Deputy Mayor is just a figure head," he rued.

However, he was unequivocal that the council worked with a positive mindset in the last five years despite varied opinions. The Deputy Mayor called for a uniform municipal act to be made applicable for all cities in the country instead of having city specific acts. He also made a case for increase in salary and allowances for the corporators, pension and medical insurance as well on the lines of MLAs/MPs.

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Andhra Pradesh