Amaravati, Mar 19 (IANS): A Muslim vegetable vendor, Sheik Basha, has been elected as the chairperson of Rayachoty municipality by the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district in the just concluded polls for municipal corporations mayors and municipalities chairpersons posts.

"I thank Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for giving someone like me the opportunity to be the chairperson of Rayachoty municipality," said an overwhelmed Basha who was chosen as chairperson on Thursday.

Though the new chairperson is a graduate, he was compelled to vend vegetables for a living due to unemployment.

"I had no direction in life. It was then that YSRCP gave me the opportunity to contest on a councillor's ticket. Now, I have been elected to be the chairperson of the municipality," he noted.

Basha highlighted that the Chief Minister allocated the maximum number of posts to backward communities in the state and observed that a move like this is encouraging for people like him.

YSRCP won a landslide election in the recent urban local bodies polls, capturing 84 of the 86 bodies.

Similarly, 78 per cent of the elected mayors and chairpersons belong to the Dalit and backward communities while women constituted as many as 60 per cent of the elected lot.

SC, ST and OBC communities managed to bag 67 of the 86 posts while women held 52 of the 86 posts.

YSRCP leaders reiterated that the party is committed to ensure the welfare of minorities.