Hyderabad, April 5: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured the post of chairperson of the Khanapur municipality in Telangana with the support of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
The election for the municipal chairperson of Khanapur in the Nirmal district was held under tight security on Sunday.
BJP candidate Ankham Mounika was elected as chairperson after receiving the backing of both BJP and BRS councillors.
Both parties reached an agreement for the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson. Under the agreement, BRS candidate Mohammad Shoaib was elected as the vice-chairperson.
Khanapur was one of the municipalities that had resulted in a fractured verdict in the urban local body elections held in February.
In the 12-member municipal council, BRS and BJP had each secured four seats, while the ruling Congress party had secured three seats. An independent candidate was also elected as a councillor.
With the support of the independent and an ex-officio vote, Congress' strength rose to five. One of the BRS councillors had also declared support to Congress. Thus, the Congress candidate had a total strength of six.
However, with the support of three councillors, the BJP secured the post of chairperson, and in return, the BJP helped the BRS candidate get elected as the vice-chairperson.
With this, the BJP has gained control of the second municipality in the state.
Reacting to the BJP-BRS deal, Congress MLA from Khanapur, Vedma Bhojju, termed it as "love jihad." He alleged that the two parties had threatened the councillors to win the election.
BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao claimed that the lotus bloomed in Khanapur despite the misuse of power and undemocratic tactics adopted by the Congress.
"This victory is truly special because it came in the face of every undemocratic tactic employed by the Congress MLA to try and stop the BJP. Yet, our dedicated workers stood firm, and the lotus bloomed with pride," the BJP leader posted on 'X'.
Khanapur was one of the three municipalities where the election of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons could not be completed last month due to a fractured mandate.
Main opposition BRS on Saturday secured the posts of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the Ibrahimpatnam and Kyathanpally municipalities.
In the Ibrahimpatnam municipality, BRS councillor T. Sudershan Reddy was elected as chairman, while Muthyala Shyamala Bhaskar of the BJP was chosen as vice-chairperson.
The BRS-CPI combine wrested control of the Kyathanpally municipality in the Mancherial district.
G. Sandhya Rani of BRS and M. Saritha of CPI won as chairperson and vice-chairperson of the civic body, respectively.
The ruling Congress government had captured power in more than 90 out of 115 municipalities and six out of seven municipal corporations in February.