Former Hyderabad Mayor and AIMIM leader passes away

Hyderabad: Alampally Pochaiah, former Mayor of Hyderabad and a senior Dalit leader of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), passed away on Sunday, October 4.

Pochaiah’s death came a day after AIMIM president and Hyderabad Member of Parliament (MP) Asaduddin Owaisi remembered him at a public meeting.

On hearing the news, Charminar Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mir Zulfeqar Ali and AIMIM Joint Secretary Syed Mushtaq Ahmed rushed to Pochaiah’s residence and expressed condolences to his family.

Pochaiah served as mayor of Hyderabad from 1989 to 1991, when the city was governed by the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH), the body that preceded the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Zulfeqar, who now represents Charminar, succeeded him as mayor in 1991 and held the post until 1995.

AIMIM leader Pochaiah’s tenure as Hyderabad Mayor

Pochaiah’s tenure came during a period when AIMIM used civic polls to bring Dalit leaders into the city’s top office. The party emerged as the single largest group in the 100-member MCH after the 1986 elections, winning 38 seats.

Between 1986 and 1991, AIMIM got three Dalit leaders elected mayor of Hyderabad: K Prakash Rao, A Satyanarayana and Pochaiah. Prakash Rao was the party’s first mayor and the first Dalit to hold the post. In the same period, a Dalit and a Scheduled Tribe member were also elected deputy mayor on the party’s strength.