Babu dilutes land debate much to the chagrin of Left

Former chief minister and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu, who has changed his decision to boycott the Assembly proceedings on the suggestion of the Left parties, on Thursday diluted the debate on the all-important land distribution. The two Communist parties have been agitating alleging that the government had failed to do justice to the poor and the rich were being benefited from the land distribution and Indiramma scheme.

The Left requested Chandrababu Naidu to extend them moral support in the State Assembly. Chandrababu Naidu agreed to the request but unwittingly created problems for them. When the House was debating the issue rather seriously, Chandrababu Naidu included in his speech several items which are not related to the debate. Even Speaker KR Suresh Reddy said Chandrababu Naidu was deviating from the given subject.

According to sources, the Left parties are not happy with the dilution of the important topic by including political allegations and anecdotes to settle scores with the ruling party. The Communists did not expect this from the Leader of the Opposition. The disgust was clearly writ on the faces of the Communist leaders.

Kalam's new website to be launched today!

CHENNAI: Fans of APJ Abdul Kalam need not lose heart that he will no longer be available on www.presidentofindia.nic.in.

The tech savvy missile man who moved out of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday will continue to chat with millions of students and admirers on www.abdulkalam.com, a portal that will be launched on Thursday in Chennai.

“The new site will be as interactive as the President's official website. Browsers can continue to chat with Kalam, send him e-mails, share their thoughts for Vision 2020 with him,” a source said.

During his five year term as President, Kalam had ensured that all his speeches and interaction were posted online. “All that content including his poems will be shifted to www.abdulkalam.com now,” the source added.

On Wednesday night, the official website of the President of India was put under renovation to enable the content transfer.

Fact Sheet: Naidu kneels down before Left!

Fresh from the publicity he got from the Obulapuram Mines incident, former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has announced that the TD would actively participate in the Bhoo Poratam launched by the CPI and CPI-M to intensify its attack on the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government.

Naidu, who desperately needs the support of the Left parties to stage a comeback in the 2009 general elections, is prepared to do anything to please the Reds. Just like the Congress which got benefitted from the Left support in 2004 elections, the TD too wants to gain maximum mileage from the agitations of the Left parties.

That Naidu personally went to the dharna chowk at Indira Park to participate in the indefinite fast launched by the Communists clearly shows how much he can bend head over heels to woo the Left. He wants that the land struggle launched by the Communists would now be extended to all other parties all over the country. His interaction with CPI-M national leader Prakash Karat gave enough hint that the TD would soon seek the support of the Left to the TD in the State and the Third Front at the Centre.

Interestingly, even Bharatiya Janata Party has started participating in the land struggles of the Left. In several Telangana districts, the BJP cadres joined the Leftists in occupying lands, saying that the ongoing agitation for lands by the poor as a justified demand.

Desam helps TRS in fighting rebels

Believe it or not, it is the Telugu Desam Party which is indirectly helping the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to fight its rebel MLAs Duggyala Srinivasa Rao and Mandadi Satyanarayana Reddy, who have become thorn in the flesh for TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao.

True to the Telugu adage: "Kaagala Karyam Gandharvule Teerchinattu," the TRS leaders in Warangal district are immensely happy with the Telugu Desam leaders lodging a complaint with the R&B department, alleging that Dugyala Srinivasa Rao committed irregularities in the road works in the distict, causing a loss of several lakhs of rupees to the government, for which he was "blacklisted" by the government. They also demanded that the government initiate a judicial inquiry or vigilance inquiry into the corruption allegations against the TRS dissident MLA. They also alleged that Duggyala extorting commissions in every work being carried out in his constituency and was blackmailing all those who are opposing his policies.

On another dissident TRS MLA Mandadi Satyanarayana Reddy, the TDP alleged that the veteran politician's name was all too familiar in the urban housing scam in the city. The TD leaders said the region's people had made up their mind to teach the dissident TRS MLAs a lesson in the next elections.

So, the TRS is sitting pretty, with the TD doing all the job of exposing the TRS dissidents!!

How could Kutuhalamma get Dy Speaker post?

Guess, who was responsible for G Kutuhalamma getting the Deputy Speaker post? Nay, not Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, but it was Koduru MLA Prabhavatamma.

This secret was revealed by former minister M Satyanarayana Rao in the Assembly on Wednesday. He said the seat adjacent to Prabhavatamma in the Assembly is a very lucky seat and whoever sits in that would get one position or the other. Earlier, Galla Aruna used to sit beside Prabhavatamma and she was lucky enough to become the Cabinet minister. After Aruna moved into the front benches, Kutuhalamma occupied her seat and thanks to her proximity to Prabhavatamma, she was blessed with the Deputy Speaker post within three months.

Now, Satyanarayana Rao expressed desire to sit beside Prabhavatamma and who knows, he might get the chance to become the minister once again at a later stage? If not minister, will he become the Governor of any State?