Fact Sheet: Kaka punctures his son-in-law!

The exercise over appointment of the new Pradesh Congress Committee president has fuelled a fresh war between senior Congress MP G Venkatswamy and his son-in-law P Shankar Rao, a former minister.

Shankar Rao is desperately trying to prevent his arch rival Mallu Ravi from becoming the PCC president and he even went to the extent of giving up his ego to meet Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to scuttle Mallu Ravi's chances. On the other hand, Shankar Rao himself wants to become the next PCC president so that he can have the compensation for not being inducted into the State Cabinet.

Knowing this, Venkatswamy started lobbying in support of Ravi in becoming the PCC president. He suggested to the high command that Ravi would be a better choice, as he had a better relationship with the Chief Minister and would also satisfy the Telanganites. In all probability, the high command might okay Mallu Ravi's name, sources say.

All has not been well between Venkatswamy and Shankar Rao for quite sometime, particularly since the former's son G Vinod was made the minister in YSR cabinet. Shankar Rao believes that it was Venkatswamy who had stalled his chances of becoming the minister in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. Keeping that in mind, Shankar Rao did not allow his wife (Venkatswamy's daughter) to attend the funeral of her mother who died recently. The Mallu Ravi incident has created a fresh trouble between the two again.

Gallery: Team India Gets Grand Welcome

Dhoni is best captain at the moment, says Yuvraj

MUMBAI: Lending support to victorious Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his deputy Yuvraj Singh said the Jharkhand player, who led the team to Twenty20 World Cup win, is the best possible skipper under present circumstances.

Yuvraj said he was not bothered about captaincy and tried to cooperate with Dhoni during the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.

"It does not matter who is the captain. Whoever is the captain, we got to support him. Dhoni has captained well in the World Cup and he is the best captain at the moment," Yuvraj said after the felicitation of the Indian team on their arrival from South Africa on Wednesday.

Appreciating the captain, Yuvraj said, "Dhoni is calm and knows what he is doing."

About his six sixes feat in an over against England, Yuvraj said he was "fired up to give the best."

Ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he was confident about his ability and delivered the goods when required.

"I continued to bowl well. I knew what I can do and I can do it again and again. I am just 27 and hope to play my part for the team's cause in future," he said.

On the team's success, Harbhajan said, "we played brilliantly throughout the tournament. Yuvraj was in brilliant form. Obviously it was a batsman's game, but we got ready for the fight. It was grace of god that we won."

"I enjoyed every moment, the way I bowled, my bhangra," he said.

Reliving the catch of Misbah-ul-Haq, which was the most decisive moment in final, pacer S Sreesanth said he moved a bit earlier which helped him take the catch without any problem.

"When he (Misbah) moved, I also moved back. The improvement in fielding was because of Robin (Singh) Sir," he said.

The Kerala speedster said he was overwhelmed by the response of the fans and grand welcome accorded to the team on its return.

Sreesanth's new ball partner RP Singh also echoed the similar sentiments, saying "the rousing reception offered was 1000 times more than what he had expected."

He said the job was "challenging for the bowlers" in the Twenty20 World Cup. (PTI)

Real Estate: Framers Turned Rich And Rich Turned Farmers

Time has played with people in recent times in Hyderabad. The poor farmers who were about to die by consuming pesticide, have turned rich all of a sudden with the influx of real boom. The farmers have thrown away the pesticide bottle and took a foreign scotch bottle to enjoy! They stopped worrying about rains and their wait was stooped permanently.

But what the boom left for realtors? They are now keeping away from their scotch for not making life so expensive! Like farmers the realtors are now awaiting the rain of 'boom'! Their struggle started.

As many sane experts foreseen, the Real boom has bitten the mud now. Many realtors are worried for losing lots of investment and also for not getting any cold calls for their business as well. The land that cost Rs 1.5 Cr per acre till a few months back is now costing Rs 50 lakhs. The Koka Pet lands those were sold out at Rs 14.5 Cr in government auction has no buyers now. When the government called for an auction at Miyapur, hardly people turned up. Even the collection is not the 50% of the expected.

The downfall started ever since the result of Karimnagar election and also the series of blasts at Koti and Lumbini Park. The announcement of outer ring road, FAB City and new IT parks boosted up the real boom last year. But now, everything has been very slow and nothing is helping the real boom. The prices of lands have fallen down at many places. The realtors are losing the deposits as well.

The lands in Shamshabad area were Rs 10 lakhs per acre in 2003. But in 2006 that was shot up to Rs 1.5 Cr. Bow again, it has fallen down to 50 lakhs. Many NRIs have invested crores on Hyderabad Real Estate business. Like farmers awaiting the rainfall, now the realtors are looking out for boom-be it natural or artificial. In fact, government plans for artificial rainfall to benefit the farmers. But can't they do the same for bringing 'artificial boom'!

Former Pakistan captains rue India jinx

Karachi(IANS): Three former Pakistan cricket captains have lamented their national side's inability to overcome India after losing to their arch-rivals in the Twenty20 World Championships final in South Africa.

"But they said that the thriller was good for the game generally, and that at least Pakistan had recovered from their disastrous show at the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year," The News reported Wednesday.

India lifted the inaugural cup with a five-run win at Johannesburg Monday - maintaining their record of beating Pakistan in every world cup match they have played in.

"It's a repeat and it will hurt the fans and players alike for some time, but apart from that jinx both teams played superbly and cricket was the winner," former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said.

Wasim, who had tipped Pakistan to beat India, said the final was memorable.

"It was a close game and the better team won, no regrets. It was only a game and people have to take it as a game and must appreciate the quality of cricket," Akram maintained.

"I would blame Pakistan batsmen Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi for their reckless strokes and in the end Misbah-ul Haq should have played a straight bat shot," he added.

Akram said both teams had redeemed themselves after their bitter exits from the World Cup in March.

"Shoaib Malik has emerged as a great captain and the way he led the team from the front, I see Pakistan winning the World Cup in 2011," he maintained.

"India have found Mahendra Singh Dhoni as their leader and eventually he will also lead in Test cricket. I see Indian cricket going up from here and it is a boost to Twenty20 because India has the market to lift any form of the game," Akram contended.

Another former captain, Javed Miandad, blamed Pakistan's defeat on the lack of planning.

"We have maintained our losing streak to India in World Cup matches and I would blame poor planning for that. Why did Malik not come in at number three instead of Kamran Akmal?" Miandad wondered.

Intikhab Alam, also a former captain and manager of the 1992 World Cup winning team, said India holds a psychological edge over Pakistan in big games.

"The World Cup jinx continues and India seems to have an edge over us in all World Cup matches. But I am grateful to the Pakistan team for making the final a fitting one," he maintained.

Fact Sheet: Cong checkmates Madhu Yashki

When Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki was inducted into the AICC executive committee as one of the secretaries, everybody thought it was a slap on the face of Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and a fillip to the Telangana movement, as Yashki is a die hard supporter of Telangana and a bitter critic of YSR government.

But a close analysis of the high command's decision reveals that there is more to it than what meets the eye. Madhu Yashki was taken into the AICC, not to criticize YSR or clamour for Telangana, but only to silence his voice. There had been reports for quite some time that Madhu was planning to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi before the next Parliament and Assembly elections and that he already had talks with its president K Chandrasekhar Rao in this regard. There were also reports that if his entry into the TRS is not feasible, he might even join hands with Telugu Desam deputy leader T Devender Goud to float another party.

The Congress high command has thought that the only way to block his plans is to give him some prominent post in the AICC, so that he dare not raise his voice against the Chief Minister, nor can he run a dissident camp in the State. Since he would be closer to the high command, he would also be not in a position to raise the issue of Telangana as often as he is doing right now. The option of kicking him out, if he continues with his dissidence is always there. Since he is joining the AICC executive, he would not be in a position to bargain with KCR or Devender Goud for posts or tickets. That will be his end!

India's Twenty20 Cup heroes welcomed home

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's triumphant Twenty20 World Cup squad arrived home from South Africa on Wednesday with thousands of joyous fans gathering at the airport to greet them.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team mates were greeted by the region's chief minister before being taken on an open-top bus to the Wankhede stadium for a reception hosted by the national cricket board.

Elaborate security measures were in place on the 35- kilometre journey from Mumbai airport, with giant hoardings on display to congratulate the surprise winners.

India beat arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs in a thrilling final in Johannesburg on Monday, a victory to compare with their upset 1983 World Cup final win over West Indies.

The Indian board has announced a win bonus of $3 million (1.49 million pounds) and a special cash award for batsman Yuvraj Singh, who hit six sixes in one over in a match against England.

Fact Sheet: Hyderabad Brothers the happiest lot

The sudden changes in the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and the AICC has tiltled the fortunes of controversial Hyderabad Brothers, as legislators P Janardhan Reddy and M Sashidhar Reddy are popularly called. The two MLAs had been in trouble for their open talk against the chief minister and some of his policy decisions and programmes.

The resignation of APCC chief K Keshava Rao and the change in the AICC general secretary incharge of AP Congress affairs has changed the political equations. The Hyderabad Brothers are the happiest lot since it has given them temporary victory. They have now got ample time to convince the new APCC leadership. Since Rahul Gandhi has been appointed general secretary, these two legislators may call the shots at the Central level. Both the MLAs are close to the Gandhi family and Rahul Gandhi may help in boosting their political career further. But it all depends on how Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy will react to the situation and how much clout he enjoys with Rahul Gandhi.

Rajasekhar Reddy and the Hyderabad Brothers do not see eye-to-eye and it is to be seen how the new equations will tilt the political balance, either in favour of the chief minister or the legislator duo.

Nimmajjan: YSR survives yet again

Looks like chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy has got a special boon from the Dame Luck. For the third time in a row, he could succeed in holding the Ganesh Nimmajjan (immersion) programme successfully without even a single incident of communal trouble or flare up. After the twin bomb blast everyone in the State was looking at Rajasekhar Reddy wondering how he would tackle the Nimmajjan ceremony.

A little security lax would have led to a major trouble. Communal elements and a few political opponents were hell bent on creating trouble during the Ganesh festival. It was the right opportunity for these forces. Ganesh and Ramzan festivals have coincided after a gap of 27 years. Leaders of both the communities participated in the festivities without giving an opportunity to communal elements and anti-social forces in political parties. This led to the peaceful Nimmajjan.

The successful Nimmajjan is yet another feather in the cap of the chief minister. For the first time in the history of Andhra Pradesh there was no communal trouble in Hyderabad for three years in a Congress government. It seems opponents to Rajasekhar Reddy in the Congress do not see it an opportune time to hit at him through communal violence. Or people must have become wiser after seeing through the political and communal games of anti-social elements.