Article: ChandraBabu’s Deeksha flops!

The TDP chief Chandra Babu Naidu’s one taken token strike (Deeksha) has shown how fragile his relationship with the leftist really is.

Babu is not only a master manipulator but also quick to seize opportunities. He latched upon the leftists Bhooporatam with both his hand. His strategy is simple. He senses a great opportunity in the stir by Leftists and saw a wining issue for the next assembly polls.

But Chandra Babu’s strategy seems to have backfired. The CPM and CPI leaders are no novices. They have not only worked with Babu closely for more than a decade and they can now also read Babu’s mind.

Even chief minister Y S Rajashekar Reddy made light of Babu’s token Deeksha. He said that Babu sat on a Deeksha after having a sumptuous breakfast and went home for dinner!

The leftists however seized the first opportunity that came their way in the form of Babu’s Deeksha. They conveniently excused themselves from the Deeksha and have now sent a clear message to Babu as well as YSR. The communists will keep their options open and will not align themselves completely with the TDP.

The compulsions of coalition politics and the Left parties bonhomie with the Congress at the center are the factors that are now weighing heavily on the minds of Raghavulu and Narayana.

And at the end of the day, even Babu realized that the people were not convinced about his token hunger strike and he went home quietly.

So the coming days can be expected to be much more interesting, which will once again prove the adage right – that there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics!

Fact Sheet: "Naidu has no moral right in Mudigonda"

Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu is trying every method, including the so-called one-day fasting (or a few hours fasting?), to take absolute mileage out of the recent Mudigonda firing incident, in which seven people died.

But the people in Khammam district are not being carried away by his crococodile tears. In fact, Sattenapalli Manda, wife of Ramakrishna, who was shot dead in the Basheerbagh police firing in 2000, categorically said Naidu had no moral right to call on the victims of police firing at Mudigonda.

"Chandrbabu and former minister T Devender Goud termed the deceased of Basheerbagh struggle as traitors of country and he also rejected to give compensation to the families of them," she said. She feels Naidu should tender apology to the Basheeragh firing victims at least one.

Yet, Naidu shamelessly demanded the resignation of YSR in connection with the Mudigonda incident. And he is day dreaming of coing back to power and saying that land distribution would be the top prioitity, if the TD comes to power (sic!)

Don't lose faith in yourself, judge tells Sanjay Dutt

"Act till the age of 100, I have only taken away six years," Judge Kode of the special TADA court told Dutt hours after sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment for six years for illegal possession of weapons..

Rejecting actor Sanjay Dutt's emotional plea for time to surrender after he was today given a six-year jail term in the 1993 serial blasts case, Judge P D Kode told the star not to lose faith in himself as he was "number one" in films.

"Act till the age of 100, I have only taken away six years," Judge Kode of the special TADA court told Dutt hours after sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment for six years for illegal possession of weapons.

Noting that Dutt was "number 1 in the film line", Kode said that he had liked the actor's performances very much and advised him to have faith in himself.

Kode's comments came while he was hearing Dutt's plea for more time to surrender. After hearing his sentence earlier in the day, Dutt went to the witness box with folded hands and sought permission to speak in the court.

"Sir, I made a mistake 14 years ago. Please give me some time to surrender," said the actor who turned 48 on Sunday.

When the court took up the plea later, Dutt told the judge: "I am very tired, sir. I just need your blessings."

"Don't get perturbed for you have many years to go and work like the 'Mackenna's Gold' actor, Gregory Peck," Kode told the star in an informal conversation that lasted almost 10 minutes.

In an apparent attempt to cheer Dutt, Kode told him that he had seen the actor's performance with his late father Sunil Dutt in "Munnabhai MBBS". "In the film, your father looked much better than you," the judge said.

Dutt conducted himself in a restrained manner throughout the proceedings. His face looked gaunt, revealing that he must have had a sleepless night, but he did not break down.

FM visualises investment boom in Andhra Pradesh

Visualising an ''investment boom'' in Andhra Pradesh when the ten ongoing infrastructural projects worth more than Rs 40,000 crore are completed, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the Centre would replicate the review exercise, undertaken in Andhra Pradesh, in various state capitals.

Briefing newspersons after a review of the projects by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Chief Minister Y S Rajasekara Reddy, he expressed satisfaction over the progress of major projects.

Terming as ''fruitful'' the exercise of the Prime Minister himself coming down to a state capital and reviewing developmental activities for the whole day, Mr Chidambaram said such a review would be made in all states for focussed development.

The State Government made a detailed presentation of the projects in various sectors, including energy, urban development, land management and health, the Finance Minister said, promising to follow up pending project proposals with various Union Ministries.

The projects reviewed included the 4,000 MW Krishnapatnam power project, 520 MW Ramagundam power plant, Hindustan Petrochemicals Limited refinery project in Visakhapatnam, Grassroots refinery in Kakinada, Special Economic Zone in Kakinada, Petrochemicals and Refineries project in Visakhapatnam, expansion of the Vishakapatnam port, Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) for Hyderbad, Outer Ring Road and Express Highway to the new international airport in Hyderabad, he added.

When Desam MPs spied over one another

Those who have been observing the Telugu Desam politics for quite a long time can confidently say one thing: that former Chief Minister and TD president N Chandrababu Naidu doesn't believe his own shadow, leave alone his party leaders. The recent Presidential elections once again proved this point.

Though Naidu had announced that the TD was boycotting the Presidential elections, he was not confident about his own party MPs and MLAs. When the polling was taking place, three Desam MPs – K Yerran Naidu, Manda Jagannatham and Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy – were inside Parliament and this raised many an eye brow in the media circles. In fact, Yerran Naidu had plans to exercise his franchise in favour of Pratibha Patil, after Sonia Gandhi personally requested him. But he backed out at the last moment on realising that the TD president came to know about his plans.

So, on the polling day, Yerran Naidu came to know that Jagannatham had gone to the polling hall and he, too, rushed there but could not find him. But he was spotted by Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy and without uttering a word, Yerran Naidu returned. As he was returning, Jagannatham was entering the polling area. Yerran Naidu asked him what he was doing there, but Jagannatham replied that he was coming from the bank located in the Parliament premises. Both went back to their respective chambers.

The matter of the fact was that Chandrababu Naidu deputed Ravula to spy on Jagannatham, while Jagannatham was asked to keep any eye on Yerran Naidu. And nobody knew about it!!

Political: AP’s inter-regional gaps worry PM

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today expressed concern over the large inter-regional gaps in agricultural productivity and the high-level review meeting he chaired adopted an ‘Andhra Pradesh Resolution’ to give agriculture a four per cent growth.

This is the first time that a Prime Minister reviewed state subjects in a state capital. Over the next few weeks he would visit Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. The resolution focussed on launching the National Food Security Mission in AP, increase expenditure in agriculture, improve post-harvest management infrastructure and accord highest priority to seed production.

“There are large inter-regional gaps in yield and productivity. South Telangana is the most backward with a high yield gap. There is a need to bridge this gap. Similarly, north coastal Andhra, which has a relatively high rainfall, has low yields in rice and sugarcane. The comparison with the delta area is quite stark. North Telangana exhibits poor performance in cotton and jowar,” Dr Singh said.

Dr Singh lauded the state government for its emphasis on irrigation projects. Despite this 40 per cent of the state would continue to be rain fed and this should not be ignored, he said.

Meanwhile, chief minister Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy sought Rs 3,260 cr of Central assistance for agriculture. In addition, he sought a Central assistance of Rs 1,280 crore per annum and Rs 6,000 crore during the XI Plan period. Dr Reddy presented a state agriculture plan detailing individual district plans to underscore his point. The resolution said it would post for World Bank approval the public-private partnership initiatives in terminal marketing complexes at Hyderabad, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam in September 2007 and achieve financial closure by March 2008.

Behind The Scene : Lok Satta leaders frustrated!

Even as the political activity is hotting up in the State with Opposition parties intensifying their tirade against the Rajasekhara Reddy government, one party which remained cold is Lok Satta, which has no programme or plan to realise its day-dream of getting into power in 2009 elections.

So much so that the leaders and cadres of Lok Satta, who joined the new party with a lot of hope and commitment, are getting frustrated day by day. At a time when all the political parties are buzzing with activity with one programme or the other, the atmosphere is dull and uninspiring in Lok Satta. There are no hunger strikes, no dharnas, no rallies and no bandhs. They are wondering how its founder Jayaprakash Narayana is hoping to get the people's support without fighting for their problems.

Secondly, there is no coherence in what this so-called intellectual is saying. One day, he says the Chief Minister should take moral responsibility for the police firing at Mudigonda in which seven people died. The very next day, he opposed the demand of the Left paties that the Chief Minister should step down. He has not provided any valid solution for the ongoing land struggle.

While this deep thinking has been going on in Lok Satta, there has been a fight among the leaders of Lok Satta for crucial posts in the party. The Lok Satta leaders in Tirupati for instance went to the extent of entering into fisticuffs on the issue of gaining positions in the party. So, what's the difference betwen Lok Satta and other parties?