Cong wooing women well in advance

The elections to the State Assembly are still 20 months away, but the ruling Congress has already begun wooing the women electorate with all the pre-election sops like distribution of sarees and blouses, as if the election is tomorrow.
In several districts, the beneficiaries under Indiramma housing scheme are getting more than what they have asked for. Under this scheme, the house site documents are given in the name of women. Along with the pattas, the beneficiaries are being given a saree, blouse piece, bangles, kumkum, betel leaves and nut powder.
Not only this, food is being served to the women and those accompanying them if they are struck at the venue after 12.00 noon. In fact Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy expressed surprise when pattas are given with sarees when he launched the distribution during his visit to Nellore on Sunday. Local MLA A Vivekananda Reddy told the Chief Minister that it would be given to all the beneficiaries, as part of the tradition.
And the bill for providing food as well as other items like saree and blouses is being footed by the local municipal authorities!!

TDP charges congress of wasting public money

Accusing the Congress government of wasting public money on publicity, the main opposition TDP demanded a white paper on the funds spent on publicity during the last three years.

Though congress had in the past criticised the tdp regime on publicity spending, it had been going overboard to promote the image of Chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, senior TDP Legislator E Dayakar Rao alleged at a press conference here.

He challenged the government to publish a white paper covering the previous government's expenditure also. alleging that the government had drawn up a Rs 100 crore publicity blitzkrieg, Rao said his party would take the issue to the people and the day was not far off when the ruling party would be taught a fitting lesson for its misdeeds.

Citing the instance of Health minister S Chandrasekhar facing the public wrath yesterday at Mudigonda village, the scene of the July 28 police firing that claimed seven lives, he said a similar fate awaited the ruling party leaders. the TDP leader claimed that the government's reported move to launch a major publicity drive was aimed at covering up its omissions and commissions.

"However, they will not succeed in their designs, however hard they may try," Rao added.

Buzz: TRS comes to the rescue of Cong!

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi is doing what the Congress is unable to do with regard to taking on the Communists in their own soil.

TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been touring the Singareni Coal belt from Khammam to Adilabad, has been attacking the Communists more vociferously than the Congress, which is sitting pretty now. While expressing sympathies to the members of the bereaved families of Mudigonda firing victims, KCR lambasted the Communists for playing with the lives of innocent Telangana farmers in the name of land agitation. He has been telling the public that the Communists would always play a second fiddle to the parties like the Congress and the Telugu Desam, but hoodwink the people saying they were fighting form them. In fact, they were making innocent people scapegoats in their so called agitation.

The Congress leadership is more than happy, as there is at least one party which is supporting it in tackling the land struggles launched by the Communists. Though KCR is trying to give a Telangana twist to the land struggles, the Congress has found reason to convince the people about the dubious role of the Communists.

Arguments between CPI leaders and BVR!

The Telugu Desam, which is waiting in the wings to capitalise on every issue that embarasses the government, has virtually created serious differences between the CPI and CPI-M leaders.

After the Mudigonda incident, the CPI-M is keen to draw support of other parties, more particularly TD, so that it can form an anti-Congress front in the state, CPI, on the other hand, wants to maintain distance from both the Congress and TD so that Left parties' distinct role in the land struggle is not diluted. K Narayana and S Sudhakar Reddy have been voicing moderation whereas B V Raghuvulu and Tammineni Veerabhadram want a show-down with Congress on Bhoo poratam and police firing issue.

Sources say Sudhakar Reddy's comments against Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu stating that the latter had no moral responsibility to participate in the land stir has led to arguments between CPI leaders and CPI-M State secretary B V Raghavulu. It is learnt Raghavulu argued that such a statement would cause damage to the Opposition's fight against the government, as it is the time to carry all the parties along with the Leftists to intensify the agitation. It has created an impression that CPI has fallen into the trap of the Congress, which would take advantage of the situation and run down the Opposition unity.

The CPI leaders are of the view that if the Telugu Desam is allowed to join the land stir, it would hijack the entire movement and would only sideline the Leftists. "The focus of Bhooporatam is lost, if the TD enters the scene because it only gives political colour to the agitation. Why should we give it such an opportunity? Let it fight on its own issues. The land stir should be confined only to the Leftists. If there are other issues, we can join hands with the TD," CPI State secretary Narayana argued.

Fact Sheet: Now, Cong takes up 'Bhoo Akramana!'

Wisdom seems to have dawned upon the Congress party at last. They have realised how much damage the Bhooparatam of the Leftists has done to the Congress party and eroded its electoral base.

Though the party has not come out with any action plan to undo the damage and counter the Opposition strategies, Congress leaders at the district level have been chalking out their plans to regain their hold among the poor. In Adilabad for instance, the Congress leaders launched their own Bhoo Akramana, encouraging the poor people to occupy government lands, as they don't want to give any credit to the left parties. Hundreds of poor from slum areas of Adilabad town and nearby villages occupied government lands on the outskirts of the town; erected signboards in the lands they have occupied reads that these lands allocated by the local Congress MLA C Ramachandra Reddy. The MLA assured the people that the government would regularise all such encroachments in the near future. Surprisingly, the local police or district administration did not intervene in this issue unlike in the past when poor led by left parties occupied government lands.

Though it might give a temporarly mileage to the Congress in the districts, it would create a lot of problems for the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government, as it has only justified the Lefists' action. Whether he will regularise all such encroached lands is a million dollars question.

Fact Sheet: Left stir takes caste colour!

While the Congress high command is trying to buy peace with the Leftists at the Centre in the aftermath of Mudigonda firing incident, the State Congress leaders stepped up their counter attack on the Communist leaders, particularly CPI-M State secretary B V Raghavulu.

And leading the attack was none other than Pradesh Congress Committee president K Kesava Rao. After accusing the Communists of engineering the land struggle only to make money, he went a step ahead on Wednesday and gave a caste colour to the land stir. He accused Raghavulu of suffering from "Kula gajji" (caste itching), as the latter was helping Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu gain political mileage. Raghavulu hails from the same community (Kamma) as that of Naidu. In Khammam district, too, CPI-M leader Tammineni Veerabhadram who is leading the land struggle, also belongs to the same caste. And the Additional SP Ramesh Babu, who abetted the firing incident also is said to be from the same caste. This would have prompted Kesava Rao to attribute casteist motives to Raghavulu.

Though it is an open secret that Raghavulu's affinity towards Chandrababu Naidu only because of this K-factor, the CPI-M State secretary never agrees it. He wondered why Kesava Rao did not think in caste lines, when the CPI-M fought along with the Congress against the Telugu Desam government in the past. Neverthless, Kesava Rao raised a pertinent question, which Raghavulu can never deny.