BRS wins no-confidence motion in Adilabad municipal council

While 25 councilors of the BRS and nine from BJP voted in favor of the motion, councilors belonging to the Congress and AIMIM did not participate in the voting held in a special meeting chaired by Revenue Divisional Officer Vinod Kumar.

Adilabad: The BRS on Thursday won a no-confidence motion moved against Adilabad municipal vice chairperson Zaheer Ramzani, who had quit the BRS and joined the Congress

While 24 councilors from BRS, nine of BJP and one belonging to AIMIM voted in favor of the motion, nine councilors belonging to the Congress and two from AIMIM did not participate in the voting held in a special meeting chaired by Revenue Divisional Officer Vinod Kumar. Adilabad municipal council has a total of 49 councilors, while the quorum for conducting the meeting was 34 councilors.

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Vinod announced that the no-confidence motion moved by the councilors of the BRS and BJP was successful and that Ramzani had lost his post. The councilors of the BRS decided to move the motion after Ramzani joined the Congress a few months back. Ramzani had approached the Telangana High Court against the motion, but his plea was dismissed paving way for the meeting.

In the elections to Adilabad municipality in 2020, 25 councilors won on BRS tickets, with Jogu Premender becoming chairperson of the civic body. There were 9 BJP councilors, 9 of the Congress, three from AIMIM and three Independents were also among winners. Recently, six BRS councilors including Ramzani joined the Congress. On June 19, the BRS, BJP and four Congress councilors submitted a letter to the Collector to move the no-trust motion.

With the court dismissing Ramzani’s plea, BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao issued a whip asking 25 councilors including the six, who joined the Congress, to support the no-confidence motion. Following this, five of the councilors who joined the Congress returned to the BRS. Accordingly, 24 councilors raised their hands in favor of the motion. Nine councilors of the BJP too backed the BRS though local BJP MLA Payal Shankar did not exercise his vote in the capacity of ex-officio member.

Cadres of the BRS erupted into jubilant celebrations. They danced to drumbeats and burst crackers to mark the success of their no-confidence against the vice-chairperson. Large contingents of police were deployed to prevent untoward incidents during the meeting and celebrations.

Meanwhile, six councilors were expelled from the Congress for six years on charges of indulging in anti-party activities by supporting the motion for six years. Eight other Congress workers were suspended for anti-party activities, according to a press statement issued by the party’s town president Gudipelli Nagesh.