N. Ramchander Rao | Photo credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The Telangana BJP on Friday strongly opposed the Congress government’s decision to expand the jurisdiction of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) by merging the 27 local bodies located on the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
Following the “Tughlaq-like politics” of the BRS government, the government accused party president N. Ramchander Rao and questioned why an all-party meeting was not held or public opinion was not taken before the decision was arrived at “only motivated by realty mafia interests”.
Addressing a press conference at the State Party office here, he said the BJP was against the decision to merge 20 municipalities and seven municipal corporations into the GHMC to form a ‘Metropolitan City’ as it believed decentralization was essential for effective governance.
Earlier, Mr. Rao held a meeting with party corporators and other key leaders to discuss the issue in detail and strategize. The merger would bring two million people under the GHMC’s jurisdiction as the cash-strapped municipal body lacks the necessary funds to manage such a large population and has expressed concern that the move will only lead to an increase in taxes.
He noted that existing municipalities are already struggling with a lack of basic amenities such as adequate sanitation, roads, sewerage, waste management, public lighting and drinking water. The merger will not solve any of these civic problems but will only make it more difficult for the GHMC to effectively meet the needs of the citizens.
The BJP chief alleged that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s administration seems to be focused more on real estate activities than governance and referred to the controversial HILT (Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation) policy aimed at converting over 9,000 acres of land. He termed the decision as “politically motivated” and asked the government to withdraw the “unscientific and illogical decision” immediately.
In a separate press statement, officials spokesperson NV Subhash mocked the proposed ‘Deeksha Divas’ of BRS and termed it as ‘Bhiskha Divas’ of Telangana as the K. Chandrashekhar Rao government turned a revenue surplus state into a debt-ridden one. “Telangana did not come into being only with Mr. Chandrashekhar Rao’s ‘Deeksha’, it was separated from AP with full cooperation of BJP as it supported the bill tabled in Parliament,” he said, adding that BRS has lost people’s trust.
Published – 28 Nov 2025 19:56 IST
