No-trust motion in Jammikunta fails

With no more councillors turning up, RDO Maheshwar announced that the no-confidence motion moved against the chairman was defeated.

Karimnagar: The no-confidence motion moved against Jammikunta municipal chairman Thakkallapalli Rajeshwar Rao failed due to lack of quorum on Thursday.

Twenty councilors led by 23rd ward member Ponaganti Mallaiah had handed over the no-trust motion notice to Karimnagar RDO Pavan Kumar on December 29. Based on the notice, Collector Pamela Satpathy fixed Thursday to take up the motion, following which officials conveyed a special meeting at 10 am. However, out of 30 councillors, only 10th ward councilor Ponaganti Vijayalaxmi attended the meeting. After waiting for half an hour, the officials postponed the meeting to 1 pm due to lack of quorum.

With no more councillors turning up in the afternoon too, RDO Maheshwar announced that the no-confidence motion moved against the chairman was defeated. The RDO said there were 31 members including an ex-officio member. It required 21 members to take up the no-trust motion. Except one, no other councilor attended the meeting and they could not organize the meeting due to lack of quorum. So, the no-confidence motion was declared as defeated, he said.

Twenty 20 councilors including 18 from BRS and two from Congress had signed on the notice served on December 29. Within 24 hours, another group led by Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy had met the Collector and requested her not to consider the notice served by Mallaiah’s group since a majority of councilors were supporting the chairman. They also handed over a resolution copy signed by 23 councilors extending their support to Rajeshwar Rao. Later, both groups shifted their supporters to camps in Rangareddy on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Out of 30 wards in Jammikunta municipality, BRS had won 22 while the Congress got three. Five independent candidates too won in the municipal elections held in 2019.