After an internal rebellion in the elected representatives of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), Vice-President J Rama Krishna is all set to continue to hold on to his post, after a no-confidence motion against him was defeated on Saturday.
The board meeting where the voting took place, needed at least six out of the total eight votes for the motion to stand, but could manage only four votes.
The meeting was chaired by SCB President, Brig. MD Upadhyay and Kesava Reddy and B Anitha, the representatives of Ward-2 and Ward 3, along with Ward 7 representative Bhagya Shree had supported the motion, while the others opposed it.
The motion had been moved by Ward 1 representative Maheshwar Reddy, alleging that Ramakrishna did not abide by a memorandum of understanding, which said he would vacate the post in April for one of his party men.
Speaking to reporters, Ramakrishna thanked representatives who voted for him and said that he would work with everyone to ensure that developmental activities are taken up under the jurisdiction of the board.
Speaking to TNM before the vote, Maheshwar Reddy had said, “We had signed a Memorandum of Understanding and supported him as the Vice President, in that agreement, the understanding was that he should step down on April 28 and give a chance to the others. However, he has failed to abide by it.”
However, Ramakrishna had denied any such pre-agreement, and said, “There was no such agreement. Some people want to be elevated and can’t even wait for the party to take the decision. For their political aspirations and vested interests they have moved the no-confidence motion.”
Under the Cantonment Act of 2006, Secunderabad is classified as a Category 1 cantonment due to its large civilian population.
The SCB, which is the local municipal authority, comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence and functions as a local self-government. Half the members on the board are civilians while the other half are military nominations. There are eight civilian ‘wards’ in the SCB where political parties contest and put up their candidates.