Visakhapatnam : As YSRCP corporators skipped attending council meeting to put off the annual budget meeting, the alliance corporators succeeded in approving the budget without any hassle. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation’s (GVMC) budget for 2025-26 was approved unilaterally in a short span.

As the floor leaders of the TDP, BJP and JSP approved the budget at the council meeting held in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, the meeting concluded without any elaborate discussion or debate. In the beginning of the council meeting, corporators from various wards brought the ward issues to the notice of the Mayor.

Even as all corporators belonging to the alliance party attended the meeting, it was a ‘no show’ as far as the YSRCP corporators were concerned, barring a very few. Apart from YSRCP Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari, the meeting was attended by the party’s Deputy Mayors Jiyyani Sridhar and K Sathish and two other corporators. Following the limited strength present in the council, the budget meeting went on without any argument.

TDP floor leader Peela Srinivasa Rao and JSP floor leader B. Vasanta Lakshmi alleged that the YSRCP corporators tried their best to disrupt the budget approval by not attending the meeting. However, with a sufficient majority of alliance corporators, the budget meeting was held in a hassle-free manner, they opined.

Unlike the previous government, the alliance corporators stressed that every rupee allocated in the GVMC budget will be spent judicially for the purpose it is meant for without any deviation.

Responding to the allegations made by the alliance corporators, Deputy Mayor Jiyyani Sridhar mentioned that the alliance party leaders were threatening the YSRCP corporators to vote against the Mayor. “In order to stay away from such exercise, most of the YSRCP corporators refrained from attending the council meeting,” the Deputy Mayor reasoned.

As part of the meeting, the council approved Rs 4,600 crore of budget for 2025-26 financial year.