YSRCP leaders, led by Mayor R. Sireesha Yadav and former Deputy Mayor Bhumana Abhinay Reddy, staging a sit-in at the under-construction building belonging to YSRCP corporator to prevent its demolition by MCT authorities in Tirupati on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The tiff between the ruling NDA and the opposition YSRCP leaders unfolded into a high drama on Saturday, as the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) held an indirect election for the post of deputy mayor.

The YSRCP had a majority in the municipal corporation during the last regime but after the change of government, some corporators slowly switched sides, making it a balanced house.

Citing that the construction was in violation of the rules, the MCT officials deployed bulldozers at the under-construction building belonging to a corporator M. Sekhar Reddy, who was pitted as the Deputy Mayoral candidate of the YSRCP. The YSRCP leaders, led by former Deputy Mayor Bhumana Abhinay Reddy, gathered at the building and thwarted the demolition move, and they were subsequently arrested.

Surprisingly, the city Mayor R. Sireesha Yadav, belonging to the YSRCP, squatted on the floor and opposed the demolition decision taken by the very civic body she heads.

“The move by the alliance leaders is glaringly intimidatory, but we will not be cowed down by such acts”, fumed former MLA and YSRCP district convener Bhumana Karunakar Reddy. He wondered how the corporation had realised it was a ‘violation’ only after the party candidate was announced as the candidate for the Deputy Mayor’s post.

Taken aback by the abrupt move, Mr. Sekhar Reddy is learnt to have withdrawn from the fray, forcing the party to consider other names.