Fact Sheet: Go Left way, Naidu tells cadres!

At last, Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has taken a leaf out of the Communists' book in launching agitations and win the people's support.

He realised that the Mudigonda incident has shaken the Congress edifice in the State and drew nation-wide attention, while there was little response to the hungama created by the TD legislators at Obulapuram mines, which nobody acknowledged. So, he has, of late, started taking lessons to the party cadres on how to launch agitations. "Unless there are arrests, lathi charge or cases it can not be called as an agitation," Chandrababu Naidu told his party workers at Chittoor on Tuesday.

He encouraged them to agitate over peoples problems and bring pressure on the officials to resolve the issues. He assured his support if cases are foisted against them or in case if they are arrested. He enquired about the strategy adopted by the left parties during the recent bhuporatam and expressed surprise over the failure of his party men, who are more than left party workers in numbers, to make an impact though the agitations.

Intellectuals come to TRS rescue again!

The pro-Telangana intellectuals, who have been keeping themselves away from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) since the Karimnagar elections thanks to the highhanded behaviour of its president K Chandrasekhar Rao, have now come to the rescue of TRS again in the Singareni Collieries union elections.

To start with, revolutionary balladeer Gaddar has been touring the coal belt areas to ignite the Telangana sentiment among the workers again, He is taking out peace yathras and organising cultural programmes at various places to propagate Telangana feeling among the people of coal belt areas in general and Singareni workers in particular.

On the other hand the programmes and regular meetings organized by 'Telangana Vidyavanthula Vedika' also galvanized Singareni workers behind the separate Telangana state demand by creating awareness about the need of separate Telangana state. The people are being brainwashed by various organizations regarding importance of winning of Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham in the elections to protect Singareni from various forces.

The TRS now hopes to repeat the Karimanagar byelections show in the Singareni polls. It feels that recent road shows by Chandrashekar Rao in the Coal belt areas and campaign by cultural troops at mines further strengthen Telangana sentiment among the workers.

YSR plans to nip BC Front in the bud

With State intelligence authorities indicated to the government about an imminent impact of the newly-formed BC United Front on the Congress prospects in 2009 elections, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy has immediately started measures to woo the BCs and is all set to announce a major package for them.

As a first step, the Chief Minister came out with a proposal for reservations to BCs in in promotional posts in the services of both State and Central Governments. He wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take legal and legislative initiatives in this regard to pave way for reservations to them. Pointing out that reservation to BCs at the entry level in Government services is not enough, he asked the Centre to amend the constitution to provide reservations to BCs even in promotions.

Citing reasons for his plea, Dr Reddy said people belonging to backward classes form a very substantial part of population of the State. Despite the fact that they possess most of the traditional skills and services, much remains to be done for their social and educational advancement, the Chief Minister wrote.

YSR's surprise letter indicates Congress attempts to ensure complete sway over the Backward Classes in the wake of polarisation of political forces, struggle for land and other issues. Naturally, he wants to pre-empt the BCs from forming a separate party that would be last nail in the Congress coffin.

Telangana Cong meet, a futile exercise

The Telangana Regional Congress Committee meeting, to be held on August 12, has virtually no issues to discuss, but for praising the initiatives taken by the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government for the development of Telangana on all fronts.

The meeting is being convened under pressure from some Telangana MLAs, who are getting uneasy over the latest developments on Telangana front: the immense damage caused to the Congress party in Telangana after the Mudigonda firing incident, the rising discontent among the party cadres about lack of progress on Telangana State formation front, failure to implement GO 610 and so on. There is a fear among the Congress MLAs in Telangana that they might not get relected in the 2009 elections, if there is no major initiative from the government for Telangana.

However, Gandhi Bhavan sources say, there are no great expectations about the TRCC meeting. As usual, Digvijay Singh comes from Delhi, praises the Chief Minister and gives a call to the TRCC leaders to strengthen the hands of the Chief Minister. At the most, the TRCCC leaders would ask government to spend Rs 9500 crore generated through sale of lands in and around Hyderabad for the development of Telangana region only and should not be included in the State budget, sources said.

Devendar Goud once again to the fore

The Telugu Desam is once again looking at former minister T Devendar Goud to lend grace to its agitations. Devendar Goud has led several agitations with adept bringing laurels and votes for the Telugu Desam.
Former chief minister and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu is once again pushing Devendar Goud to strengthen the party base from the village level. So Devendar Goud will take out a padayatra all over Ranga Reddy district for four days from August 9 to 11. He will gauge the public mood on the land agitation. Based on the feedback from Devendar Goud, the Telugu Desam will intensify its agitation for land distribution to other parts of the State.

Why political parties can't be made to pay for violence

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday observed why those, who organised the State-wide bandh on July 28 which led to the police firing at Mudigonda village in Khammam district resulting in the death of seven people, should not be held responsible for payment of compensation.

It also wondered why the provisions of Article 19(1)(d) and Article 21 of Constitution of India should not be invoked. The High Court was hearing a writ petition filed by Telugu Desam secretary PNV Prasad seeking imposition of the President's rule in the State.

The court directed that the petitioner implead all those political parties which had organised the bandh. Incidentally, the Telugu Desam is one of the parties which had organised the bandh all over the State.

Babu to spend just five days for Lokesh wedding

Former chief minister and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu will be spending just five days for the wedding of his only son N Lokesh. The TD supremo has drawn up a tour programme to strengthen the party from the grass roots level.He hopes to complete three rounds of the State before the next Assembly polls due in May 2009.

The first tour is scheduled for August 17 and 18 to Vizianagaram and to Mahbubnagar on August 20 and 21. The marriage of Lokesh is scheduled for August 26. So this leaves just five days for Babu to be busy with the arrangements.

He will continue with the tour programme a couple of days immediatley after the wedding.

Fact Sheet: TD-CPI joins hands to defeat TRS!

Politics makes strange bed fellows. The Communist Party of India, which is appearing to be keeping the Telugu Desam at bay in its land struggles, has entered into an alliance with the same TD in the prestigious elections to Singareni Collieries recognised union, scheduled to be held on August 9.

The CPI-affiliated AITUC entered into a last minute understanding with the Telugu Desam's trade union outfit TNTUC to fight unitedly in the Singareni polls in 10 out of 11 divisions in the coal belt spread across Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts. The elections are said to be crucial, as they will reflect the people's mood in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The common agenda of the trade unions affiliated to the TD and CPI is simple: to defeat the Telangana Boggugani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), affiliated to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. The Desam is worried that if the TRS-backed union wins the elections, it would be the end of road for it in the 2009 Assembly elections. Moreover, the prospects of the TNTUC are very bad in the Singareni polls and therefore, it took the unexpected decision of supporting to AITUC to save their face.

Communists drop demand for YSR’s resignation

The two Communist party leaders Prakash Karat of the CPM and A B Bardhan of the CPI met with congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi this evening. The talks were primary about the Left parties agitation for land for the landless – Bhoo Poratam.

The Communists are reported to have put forth a list of seven demands before Sonia Gandhi and she has agreed to look into them favourably.

The major demands include regularizing the land occupied by the poor, setting up a special Bhoo Poratam Commission setting up a special ministry and lifting of all police cases filed against the party activists.

The good news for Y S Rajashekar Reddy from the meetings is that the Left parties did not raise the issue of chief minister Y S Rajashekar Reddy. It is learnt that the Left parties have decided to drop their demand of asking for YSR’s head altogether.

TD MLAs, MPs for another political showdown

Looks like the Telugu Desam is itching for trouble. The TD which created a law and order problem by organising a trip to the controversial Obulapuram mines in Anantapur, has now decided to pay a similar visit to Jindal lands in the Visakhapatnam agency area.

Telugu Desam MPs and MLAs will visit and inspect the lands allotted to Jindal company in Visakhapatnam district for two days on August 13 and 14. The TD delegation wants to ascertain facts and find out whether the State government has violated any norms.

It was during such visit to Obulapuram that the police resorted to lathicharge. The TD leadership faced similar bad experience during the visit to Babli project site.

Fact Sheet: Cash reward to Kadapa police!!

Believe it or not, the police officials of Rayadurg police station in Kadapa district received a reward of Rs 3 lakh for successfully preventing the entry of Telugu Desam leaders and MLAs from entering Obulapuram mines and even manhandling Desam MLA E Dayakar Rao the other day.

And the cash reward was not given by the government, but by Brahmani Steels owner and Karnataka MLC Gali Janardhan Reddy, who owns the Obulapuram mines. In fact, the police had provided protection to the mines voluntarily without a formal request from Janardhan Reddy, only to display their more-loyal-than-king attitude towards Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.

And though the government did not acknowledge their hardwork – a couple of the policemen received blows from the TD leaders, Janardhan Reddy definitely showed sympathy towards them and pleased them with the cash reward.

CPI-M plays dirty tricks on Mudigonda

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is trying to cash in on the Mudigonda firing incident to prop up its image at the national level, particularly in West Bengal, where its image is gradually going down.

This was evident from the way the CPI-M has given wide coverage to the news pertaining to Mudigonda firing incident along with gruesome photographs in Ganasakthi, the mouth-piece daily of the party in West Bengal. However, the same newspaper downplayed the Nandigram firing incident in the past, where 14 poor people lost their lives in the firing of police and CPI-M activists.

The CPI-ML (New Democracy), which is suffering in the hands of the CPI-M in Khammam district, has brought out a dossier on the Nandigram and Singur killings in West Bengal and asked how the CPI-M would defend the violence in Bengal. The party spokesman pointed out that the West Bengal government had not declared a single paise to the victims and even declined to appoint a judicial committee to probe into it. He said that the people organized militant struggles against handing over their lands to the SEZs and multi-national companies. Instead of supporting to their struggle, CPI-M government killed the people and blaming the agitators as anarchists and anti-social elements. Do you follow different policies in various states?, he questioned.

"Number of CPI-M teams from Kerala and West Bengal have been visiting Mudigonda and Kalingnagar, but West Bengal government not allowed Jnanapeeth award winner Mahaswetha Devi and Narmada Bachao leader Medha Patkar in to Nandigram," he pointed out.

Rain gods advance thermal power overhaul

The power generation and supply position in the State improved considerably. Currently AP TRANSCO is supplying 162MU/day and meeting a peak demand of 7300MW. Thanks to good rains, Srisailam reservoir received large inflows since last week of June 2007. Therefore Power generation is maximized at both the power stations in coordination with irrigation department.

Owing to availability of 2200 MW hydro power (Srisailam 1500 MW and Nagarjuna Sagar 700 MW), the annual overhaul of thermal machines is advanced. The annual over haul of 7 thermal units of the state of capacity 1120 MW (RTPP-1, VTPS-1&4 and KTPS-2,3,8,9) and one unit of Kaiga Atomic power station of capacity 70 MW (AP share) in Central sector are already completed.

Power generation at Nagarjunasagar Left and Right power house (50 MW), Pochampadu power house (9MW) and Tungabhadra Power house (30 MW) also commenced. Currently 18000 cusecs water is being released through Nagarjuna Sagar Main Power House generating around 9 MU / day. Generation at Srisailam Power Station is being made as per requirement releasing up to 40000 Cusec generating around 20 MU/day due to decreased inflows into this reservoir as suggested by irrigation department.

At present the base availability is 114.1 MU (4756 MW) and hydel generation is 47.95 MU (2544 MW). During 2007-08 (from April to July), APTRANSCO supplied on an average 159.46 MU/day as against 152.25 MU/day during corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 4.7 per cent. The peak demand met (from April to July) in 2007-08 was 8337 MW as against 8104 MW during corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 2.9 per cent.

Article: YS Jagan The Gen-Next Ramoji Rao!

Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is a highly intelligent young man. He is soft-spoken but at the same time, he is also shrewd and successful businessman. He has built up a formidable business empire in a short span of time.

Father Y S Rajashekar Reddy is naturally proud of his son’s achievements. And like all doting fathers, he wants his son to go higher and higher and notch up many more successes.

Jagan now wants to replicate this success in the media field too. So has now trained his sight on building up a media empire. He has announced the launch of a Telugu newspaper Saakshi, which will come out with a record 19 editions from day one.

Work is on full swing and top journalists are being hired at hitherto unheard of salaries. The paper is scheduled for launch in January, on Sankranthi to be precise.

Jagan is also firming up plans to launch a 24x7 TV Indira TV.

Along with the 24x7 news channel, there are reports that plans are afoot to start an entertainment channel as well. And the popular FM radio space is also being eyed. And the web is of course a natural extension of the print media. So, Sakshi will naturally have an Internet edition too. So, Jagan is likely to have presence in all the four media segments by 2008.

The paper and the channel are expected to give him a firm foothold in the media space in Andhra Pradesh. And starts with the advantage of having the government on his side. Which more or less will take care of the advertisements.

The paper is likely to click, as it is going to be a well designed and a quality product. The paper is likely to priced at just One Rupee for strategic reasons. This could turn out to be its USP as the other papers in the market like Eenadu; Andhra Jyothi etc. are priced at Rs. 3/- on weekdays and higher on Sundays.

Jagan’s yet to be launched daily has already put established papers like Vaartha, Andhra Prabha and Andhra Bhoomi on notice.

Come 2008 and we will have a new media mogul on the AP horizon.

Spotlight: Tirupati mulls dress code for women

Moved by a complaint of a Lord Balaji devotee who was perturbed by women worshippers wearing what he considered immodest clothes, the Tirupati temple is contemplating guidelines to help women look adequately pious.

It may become mandatory for women to wear saris, or other traditional Indian attire, if the temple’s “advisory on dress code” comes into effect.

“We will take up the issue at the next board meeting this month,” said Ramapulla Reddy, spokesman of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).

The decision was prompted by a call made earlier this month by an incensed devotee from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. He had protested against women entering the temple in “indecent” clothes.

The TTD’s executive officer G Balaramaiah promised to look into the issue. He was contacted during the temple’s interactive initiative, “dial your executive officer”.

TTD spokesman Reddy said: “It’s customary for women to wear saris and men to wear dhotis, but many wear whatever they like.” TTD’s male employees have to wear dhotis and white t-shirts, and women work in saris.

However, not all temple administrators endorse the introduction of a dress code. “People know what to wear when visiting a temple,” said Hanumant B Jagtap, chief executive officer of the Siddhivinayak temple.

“At the most, they can be advised not to wear Western clothes. But compelling them to wear Indian dresses is inviting trouble.”

But a few devotees seem in favour of sartorial curbs. “The Tirupati shrine is not a restaurant where you can wear anything you fancy,” said Naveen Hegde, a Bangalore resident and a staunch follower.

Some women, however, think the champions of dress code in temples are arguing with skimpy logic: “Ban men from entering some temples in Kerala without shirts before thinking of imposing a dress code at other temples,” said Madhu SM, a Bangalorean. “

Temples are places to offer prayers and to find peace of mind. Devotees should come to visit God and not look at women.”

Fact Sheet: Ponnala becomes owner's envy!

Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, who managed to retain his portfolio during the last Cabinet reshuffle, has become an envy for the Congressmen.

In a way, Ponnala has become more or less isolated in his Warangal district, except for a few leaders who got benefitted from him. His detractors, who were expected a change in his portfolio, are envious of his fortune, as he allegedly made millions in Jalayagnam. So, the differences among the top leaders of the Congress party in the district came to the fore when he arranged a felicitation for his follower and Warangal Zilla Parishad chairperson L Dhanawanti on completion of her one year in office on Sunday.

It turned out to be a glaringly one-sided affair with only the staunch followers of Ponnala Lakshmaiah attending the meet and others chose to be away from it. Among those top guns who were absent from the meet included; Minister for tribal welfare D S Redya Naik, DCC President and MLC Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy, city MLA Baswaraju Saraiah, Mulug MLA Podem Veeraiah, DCCB chief Konda Murali, and his wife Shyampet MLA Konda Surekha.

With the absence of top leaders, Ponnala alone had to carry the meet on his own and tried to make light of the absence of top leaders.

Chandrababu's New Deeksha- Mounavratham!

Babu's recent Breakfast-to-Dinner Deeksha invited ridicule from all quarters and did more harm than good. And the TDP chief Chandra Babu Naidu is a much-chastened man, at least for the time being.

He is now keeping a very low profile. He has now engaged himself with party activities like reorganizing the party's state and district committees.

What has not gone unnoticed is his unannounced new Deeksha – Mounvratam!

Babu was stung by the widespread criticism for some of his remarks after the Mudigonda incident. The biggest and by far the most damaging statement is his tirade against Prime minister Manmohan Singh. This time Babu went a bit too far, and a majority of the party leaders, including MLAs and MPS are openly admitting this.

The TDP Rajya Sabha MPs in particular, are aghast at what they call immature and uncalled for comments against the entry of Manmohan through Rajya Sabha.

The TDP MPs even mustered up enough courage and told Chandra Babu that his statement is likely to cause a lot of wholly uncalled for embarrassment.

They pointed out that his comments were not against one individual but the entire upper house, the Rajya Sabha.

And TDP Rajya Sabha members are worried a lot now and rightly too. If the Congress or other parties raise the issue of disrespect to the elders is raised in the house, the TDP will have no place to hide. The party stands no chance to defend itself.

Babu is a seasoned politician and he sure would know the consequences better than anybody else.

So, Babu now hopes that by keeping his mouth shut for some time, the issue will die down and he and his party would be spared potential embarrassment at the national level.

Congress pays Communists in their own coin

The Congress has finally flexed its muscles over the Mudigonda police firing. With Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy announcing a never before ex gratia to the kin of those killed in the police firing at Mudigonda village in Khammam district, the Congress Legislature Party has got emboldened and decided to take the Communists head on.

The ex gratia package is the best ever in the entire country. No State government has ever announced such a generous financial-cum-assets help to the victims of police firing.

The Congress Legislature Party on Sunday challenged the Communists to come out with a similar package for the victims of police firing in Nandigram village in West Bengal, if they are sincere and pro-poor.

The Congress knows that the Communists will never announce such a big package to the victims there. Since the Communists have already made it clear that there's no parallel between the two incidents.

As CPM State secretary BV Raghavulu has pointed out, while the people in Mudigonda were unarmed, those in Nandigram were armed with bombs and rifles.

Any way, the Congress in the State has finally come out of the Mudigonda trauma and is now able to stand up and speak daringly against the Reds.

Behind The Scene: YSR's pet gets extension!

At last, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy managed to get extension for his special secretary M G V K Bhanu for one more year.

Bhanu has already completed a five-year deputation to the State from his native cadre of Assam. Because of this, initially the Centre did not favour his request to continue him in the State for two more years.

The Chief Minister, too, initially decided to send him back to his native post, because of lot of complaints from his MLAs and other ministers against him. However, Bhanu is the only channel for the Chief Minister to get information about his detractors both within the Congress and outside. And more over, Bhanu holds the key in irrigation sector and enjoys a strong support from YSR's friend K V P Ramachandra Rao. It is for this reason that YSR changed his mind and decided to get extension for him at least till 2009 general elections.

The Chief Minister lobbied with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to treat Bhanu's request as a special case and give approval. Chief secretary J. Harinarayana also wrote to the Centre seeking permission to utilise his services in the State. Bhanu's extension was almost confirmed during the Prime Minister's visit to city on July 31 when Dr Singh called the senior bureaucrat and greeted him in the presence of major industries minister J. Geetha Reddy. The orders to retain Mr Bhanu in the State have now been issued by the Union ministry of personal affairs.

Dr.Medasani Mohan Created History on American Soil

On the occasion of Silicon Andhra Sixth Anniversary, Silicon Andhra conducted the FIRST ever 'Sataka Padya Dhara Sammohanam' by 'Sahasravadhani' Dr. Medasani Mohan in the historic Palo Alto city, home of Stanford University. Sri Medasani was welcomed with a 'Poornakumbham' and he was taken to the auditorium in a procession where young people carrying flags and girls showering flower petals welcomed him in Telugu Traditional way. All the 63 'Pruchhakas', lined up the way as a mark of respect to the scholarship of Sri Medasani. At the entrance of the Auditorium, he was extended a warm civic welcome by Yoriko Ashimoto, the Mayor of Palo Alto. She was joined by the Silicon Andhra Executive Committee headed by the President Sripahani Vissamraju and others. Scores of people lined up the way to welcome Avadhani Medasani.

Sri Medasani was invited onto a grand stage that is fit to the king of Telugu literature. The stage was designed like the king's court and Medasani was taken onto the stage with 'Haarathulu'. The stage was already occupied by 63 Pruchhakulu.

Medasani garu created 'Pravasandhra Satakam' answering the questions posed by 63 'Pruchhakas' on the stage. In a six hour marathon session, Telugu Padyams flew freely all together 108 in number, creating the First impromptu satakam in a Sabha by an Avadhani. More than 800 people witnessed the history in making by Dr. Medasni Mohan. Some times he just took less than ten seconds to answer the response in ' Saardoolam' metered poetry. He has completed nine 'Parvamulu' depicting the lives of non resident Telugu people with single 'makutam' 'Silicon Andhra AkritI BharathI'.

At the end of the session, he was awarded the 'Silicon Andhra Avadhana Bharathi' title and felicitated in a grand traditional fashion. Dr. Medasani thanked Silicon Andhra for being the forum to create this record setting event. He said it was great literary feat that was done before in this fashion ever. At the end of the program, all the attendees were treated to a sumptuous dinner sponsored by DOSA PLACE (41043 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538, Tel # 510-651-DOSA)