Visakhapatnam: The results of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) standing committee elections came as a bolt from the blue to the NDA government. The alliance was supposed to win 10 out of 10 in the GVMC standing committee elections held on August 6. Much against the expectations, one of the YSRCP candidates emerged victorious. The victory has raised eyebrows in the political circuit.

Minimum 46 votes were required for each member to win. But the YSRCP candidate Saadi Padmavathi (Padma Reddy) garnered 50 votes in the standing committee polls. Currently, YSRCP has a strength of 32 members. Despite the party’s strength, Padma Reddy got 18 votes extra from the alliance.

Her victory induced a renewed josh among the YSRCP cadre.

Celebrating the shift, YSRCP MLC Botcha Satyanarayana and party’s district president KK Raju, among others, broke into a celebration mode. Apparently, the Opposition candidate’s triumph in the standing committee polls is an indication that the unity among the alliance leaders is not as intact as it appears to be. Before the 2024 elections, YSRCP had a majority of strength in the corporation. After the NDA government came to power, many of them shifted loyalties. While some of them teamed up with the JSP, others joined the BJP and TDP.

However, before the standing committee polls, JSP floor leader and corporator Peethala Murthy Yadav expressed dissatisfaction over the selection of candidates and was vocal in expressing his decision to stay away from the polling exercise. Likewise, Left Party corporators decided not to be active in the voting exercise.

After winning Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections, the NDA government seemed to be ‘overconfident’ about winning all the votes in the standing committee elections. But the results indicate two things clearly. One, bonhomie among alliance leaders is missing. Two, the Opposition is slowly picking up the pieces.