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Telangana and Women are the winners in GHMC Elections

By: Subhash Chandra

Voters of Hyderabad gave their verdict that Hyderabad is Telangana and Telangana is Hyderabad. They also put Hyderabad’s Women in the driving seat.

Hearty Congratulations too all those young energetic women winners.

There was a time when Seemandhra politicians raised questions about the status of Hyderabad city at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh leading to the creation of the Telangana State. They claimed that citizens of Hyderabad were not in support of Telangana State and therefore, the city of Hyderabad be made a Union Territory.

The GHMC Elections of 2016 proved that those arguments were trumped up and patently false. The election results proved that Hyderabad city is integral part of Telangana, its Heart and its Crown Jewel.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi proved its mettle by winning 66% of GHMC’s constituencies. Since the MIM party is essentially a 100% Telangana party, its 44 wins are also a victory for Telangana spirit and sentiment. Telangana people did not believe Congress, BJP, and TDP parties had Telangana’s interests at heart and so they soundly defeated them and literally kicked them out of the political arena. TDP fared the worst with just one win and Congress fared just as bad with only two wins and BJP suffered horrendously for its cardinal sin which was to make alliance with TDP, the arch enemy of Telangana. TDP has no business in Telangana and has lost its currency once the bifurcation has been done. Congress and BJP may have a future but they will have to put the interests of Telangana first.

What is even more heartening and celebratory is that the Women came out of this election smelling roses literally. Fifty Six of the 99 TRS party winners, 18 out of the 44 MIM winners and three out of four of the BJP winners as well as one of the two Congress winners are women. Poor TDP didn’t even have enough winners to share with their women.

Know that a FULL MAJORITY of GHMC Corporators are WOMEN (78 out of 150). That is, Hyderabad City is now has the unique distinction of being run by women. They don’t need to seek any support from men in electing their Mayor and the Deputy Mayor.

It is time to recognize that the Women of Hyderabad city are the Stars and the Movers and Shakers of the Capital. The Chief Minister, KCR, must recognize the hard won victory of the Women and let them elect the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor of the capital city. Men ought to accept this ground reality.

The TRS government should not micromanage GHMC and let the Women Corporators run it. Let Hyderabad become a truly world class city and for that the GHMC administration must be allowed to operate as independent as those of London, Paris, and New York.

With the Mayor and Deputy Mayor and majority of corporators being women, the city of Hyderabad has the potential of becoming the best governed and most civil city in the nation. I am very optimistic of Hyderabad becoming the best governed and least corrupt city. Maybe, India could learn a thing or two from Telangana and Hyderabad.

Of course, credit must be given to TRS and MIM for giving opportunity to so many able and capable women. Kudos to the two parties and their leaders. BJP must acknowledge that their women candidates were three times better than their men candidates and perhaps and learn from this experience.

Hyderabad has always been welcoming city to any and all coming from within India and without. Whether one is a Telugu or a Gujarati or a Maratha or a Bengali or a Bihari or a UP or a Punjabi, everybody feels at home because the locals are accommodating, friendly, and supporting. Hyderabad is probably the most cosmopolitan city in the Nation. And now, everybody should feel at ease and happy especially that the city will be run by the Ladies.

Now that Hyderabad has shown the door to TDP, the TDP government of AP should have the good sense to understand that it is time for their exit from Hyderabad city and give up their irrational and illogical claim for Hyderabad to be a joint capital. It would be sensible for them to stop wasting their time in Hyderabad city and not suffer the ignominy of their party’s defeat any more than necessary.

By shifting from Hyderabad to Vijayawada and by operating their government and governing their state from within the state they will be doing a favor to themselves and a great service to their citizens. Their citizens will avoid the inconvenience and avoid the additional burden of the cost of travel to Hyderabad.

Hyderabad city will also benefit immensely from the benefits of reduced traffic crowds and by receiving better citizen services. The situation with Law and Order will also receive. The government of Telangana will be relieved of the constant irritation it experiences due to the presence and interference from another State government and the political activity of TDP.

I hope that the New GHMC will transform itself into a very friendly, service oriented, and corruption-free governing body.

Hyderabad urgently needs better governance. Water supply, traffic, security, and road safety must be improved. The famous Public gardens has deteriorated badly and must be redeveloped back to its old glory. The city deserves an excellent Park System to relax its citizens. The pedestrians deserve footpaths everywhere. The city needs to have an excellent mass transit system.

A city must first be livable and then strive to be smart. And towards that end, Hyderabad has work cut out for it. All Hyderabadis are eager and impatient to reach that goal. The New GHMC must work to achieve that.

Vision Telangana Association would like to congratulate intelligent voters wiping out the enemies of Telangana and TRS for strategic planning. The healthy opposition is good, but not what we had.

To all of us celebrating T-State, we only got half the independence, the other half is tied in Common Capital, High Court, Employee Distribution, River Water Disputes, etc. On that account, all the parties are culprits (with the exception of Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj and RSS). We are glad to see TDP wiped out, Naidu & Naidu misleading the Central Government.

Now, another obstacle removed, people of Telangana would like deliverables with high importance to:
1. Infrastructure for farming (Rain Water Harvesting, MK, River Water Disputes and Projects/Canals in relation)
2. Organic and Drought Resistant Farming (crop rotation/cover crops/green manure/biological pest control to DRIP/solar to diversifying income sources with dairy, poultry, etc)
3. Infrastructure for villages (Roads, Sanitation, Water(WaterGrid), etc.)
4. Revamp Primary, Middle and High School Education
5. Quality Professional Education and Vocational Training (time to close more colleges with walls and waiting to collect tuition reimbursements)
6. Infrastructure and Incentives for the Development of Telangana Movie Industry

Last but not the least (to improve in parallel):
1. Law & Order
2. Corruption (at all levels … politicians, bureaucrats, employees, businesses, mafia)
It is an Indian problem, not just for Telangana. But, these two elements have the potential to make significant dent in “social justice” and pave way for new and old policies to be implemented reasonably (U.S. is much safer and desirable place to live because of these two elements among other factors in spite of guns everywhere).

And, this majority gives TRS mandate to demand resolution of other half of Telangana we didn’t get and Central Govt. adamant in not delivering it.

Once again, Vision Telangana Association would like to congratulate TRS and wish the Telangana Govt. successful planning and execution!

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