Suspense over, Hari Venkata Kumari elected Vizag mayor
Golagani Hari Venkata Kumari was unanimously elected as Mayor of Visakhapatnam, which is tipped to an Executive Capital of Andhra Pradesh.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 19 March 2021 8:16 AM IST
Visakhapatnam: Golagani Hari Venkata Kumari was unanimously elected as Mayor of Visakhapatnam, which is tipped to an Executive Capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Jiyyani Sridhar was elected deputy mayor of Visakhapatnam.
Coming from a middle-class family, Kumari graduated in science and is a trained teacher. She remained a homemaker, while her husband is a small businessman.
The couple remained extremely loyal to Vamsi Krishna Yadav and often visited him.
``Till 9 am I had no idea that I would be named as the mayoral candidate. It came like a bolt from the blue," Kumari told the reporters after taking over the charge.
It is the second time that a woman corporator was elected as Mayor of Vizag city. In the past, Rajana Ramani had served as Mayor of Vizag city.
The selection of Hari Kumari did not go well with the followers of Vamsi Krishna Srinivas, who was said to be the frontrunner for the Mayor post. Hundreds of his supporters gathered at the GVMC office and raised slogans and cried for their leader.
Vamsi Srinivas said that a section of the party members worked against him. Vamsi, who is currently serving as the YSRCP Vizag city president, said he would tender his resignation.
Earlier, the ministers gathered at Central Park to garland the statue of YS Rajasekhara Reddy. After gathering at the Mahatma Gandhi statue for a photoshoot, the corporators assembled at the council hall at about 10.30 am.
The election officer and collector V Vinay Chand presided over the special council session in the presence of an observer and former Vizag collector Praveen Kumar. He read out the procedure and began the session at 11 am sharp.
He administered the oath to the corporators and announced that he has received proposals naming Golagani Hari Venkata Kumari for the post of mayor and Jiyyani Sridhar for deputy mayor's post. He said since there were no other contestants, he declared both the names as elected.
Incidentally, Kumari's name was proposed by Vamsi Krishna Yadav, the man who lost the post to her, and Jiyani Sridhar name was proposed by Kampa Hanook.
Soon after receiving the certificate, Kumari wore the traditional mayor gown and took the seat in the renovated council hall. Ex-officio members and MPs V Vijaysai Reddy, MVV Satyanarayana, and Dr. K Satyavathi greeted the new mayor.
