Political Buzz: YSR prefers Indira to Nehru!!

Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy seems to be going rather too much in naming the government schemes only after Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, so much so that the people are at their wit's end as to what the scheme is all about!

It is understood that YSR is going all out to please his boss Madam Sonia Gandhi by naming all schemes after Indira and Rajiv, but it is creating a sort of abhorrence among the people. On Sunday, he inaugurated two parks and one flyover in the city, all named after Rajiv Gandhi. Sometimes, when officials suggested to him to name a particular scheme or project after Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi, too, YSR is outrightly rejecting the same to display his more loyal than king attitude towards Sonia.

For instance, in Kadapa district, the irrigation officials suggested a canal to be named after Nehru, but the Chief Minister stoutly ordered them to rename it after Indira Gandhi. The officials grumbled and reluctantly accepted the orders. If this goes on, it will definitely be an irritant for the people in the long run!!

Behind The Scene: Yet another poll sop from YSR

Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy has come out with yet another poll promise to bear the main Opposition Telugu Desam. This time he wants to distribute two lakh acres of land among the landless poor. Pattas will also be issued immediately unlike in the past. Though the Congress government describes it as the fourth phase of land distribution among the landless poor, sources point out that the Chief Minister has rushed through the decision to pre-empt any moves by the Telugu Desam or any other political party.

The government will distribute the land on the State Formation Day on November 1.

Till now the State government has identified as much as 1.35 lakh acres of vacant government land, besides 4,000 acres of assigned lands. The government is now busy in identifying the remaining land for distribution.

The Chief Minister wanted more Govt. lands to be get readied for distribution among the landless poor but with clear titles. Necessary Government Orders in this regard will be issued soon.

In another decision, the Chief Minister once again reiterated that not an inch of govt. or private or endowment or other lands will be allowed to be occupied or illegally encroached upon. Referring to the CPM's 'Bhu poratam' agitation, the Chief Minister once again made it clear that on November 1, the government will distribute about two lakh acres to the landless poor, but will not allow anarchy to prevail in the State. Thus the illegal land occupation by the CPM as part of their agitation should be dealt upon seriously and under any circumstances all the remaining illegal occupations should be evicted within a week.

He was told by the District Collectors of Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad that there is no illegal occupation as on date and all those illegally occupied government and other lands were evicted. There are a few acres of land still remain illegally occupied in few districts like Nellore, Guntur and Srikakulam.

Fact Sheet: Babu's knowledge forum goes sleep

Telugu Desam supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is known for his innovative and often fanciful ideas. Just before his visit to the USA to collect funds from Telugu NRIs for the NTR Foundation, Chandrababu Naidu launched a website called www.nritdp.org. He also set up a knowledge forum where he invites suggestions on a variety of topics from Telugu-speaking NRIs spread across the globe. The knowledge forum worked well for three months. Later it went dead. There have been no postings on the NRI Knowledge Forum since July 30 when the last posting was made. Two months have passed and it seems tha TD leadership has no new idea to put before the forum for discussion.

Earlier, the TD leadership set up a grievances cell at NTR Bhavan. It worked well for a couple of months. Now there's no news about it. Chandrababu Naidu has not bothered to revive it. Similarly, there was an "anti-corruption" cell in the TD office. It is also as good as dead with the party not able to take up the complaints and suggestions from the common man.

Madhu Yashki's Curry Favor For Sonia

Till two weeks ago he was on tenterhooks. The lobby led by chief minister was targeting him and hatching plans to deprive him of a winnable Lok Sabha seat, but by the grace of Rahul Gandhi, Nizamabad Member of Parliament Madhu Yaksi Goud has risen again. Goud who was hibernating in New York when the Congress headquarters appointed him secretary of the national party came running back to Hyderabad to accept the accolades. But he has gone back again because Madam Sonia is about to visit New York and Madhu wants to be there to receive her. Before his resurrection, the plan being discussed by the state Congress bosses was to push him out to Nalgonda and allot the Nizamabad seat to minister in the state D Srinivas. But this plan will now been put in cold storage.

Cong MP wants two kg rice for Rs 3!!

Election atmosphere is prevailing in the State at present, with all the political parties – the Congress, the Telugu Desam, the TRS and even newly formed Lok Satta – are going all out to woo the electorate with all sorts of populist schemes.

Political observers say it might not be impossible for Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu to implement the free power supply scheme if the TD comes to power, as Naidu could not just afford to say he would drop the scheme. However, it would be next to impossible for Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to implement Rs 2 a kg rice scheme, as this money has absolutely no value in the present circumstances since the production cost of rice has gone up steeply. That is why, YSR's proposals has been taken with a pinch of salt by the Congress leaders themselves.

A Congress MP, Survey Satyanarayana of Siddipet, has remarked, rather sarcastically that, it would have been better for YSR to announce two kgs of rice for Rs 3, rather than copying the Rs 2 a kg rice scheme of NTR announced way back in 1982. "If YSR thinks Rs 2 a kg rice scheme is possible, he can as well give it at Rs 1.50 a kg. We have huge buffer stocks of rice in the State and hence, YSR can always afford to distribute it at heavily subsidized price," he suggested.

What these leaders fail to understand is that the voters are no more fools. They are intelligent enough to see through these announcements and come to their own judgement.

How weighty are Cong, TD pre-poll sops?

Yes. They make up around 20 per cent of the State's total annual budget. If the Congress or the TD, whoever comes to power, has to spend on fulfilling the sops announced by them, they need at least Rs 10,000 crore every year. If the benefits are extended to more sections, the budgetary allocation will simply jump to Rs 20,000 crore. So the State's budget will go up by Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore.

Without thinking of how they will raise so much money to fulfill the promises, both the Congress and the Telugu Desam are vying with each other in announcing newer and newer promises. They are more interested in winning elections rather than thinking of the State's economy.

If the new government implements the schemes -- all the shemes promises -- it will have to impose new taxes on people to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore. This means everyone in the State will have to pay new and additional taxes. The tax structure will go up at least by two times. The common man has to cough up from his nose to fulfill the power needs of these politicians. What's a logic?

Fact Sheet: Clashes for tickets begin in Cong

Even before there is any concrete talk about mid-term elections to the Lok Sabha, leave alone to the State Assembly, the Congress leaders in the State are already clashing with one another to please the bosses and get the tickets.

Gandhi Bhavan is buzzing with activity with ticket aspirants thronging the place almost on a regular basis. The leaders are preparing their dossiers and submitting the same to the office, so that they would be in the forefront while seeking the tickets. In other places, there are already clashes between two groups of ticket aspirants.

At the inauguration of Malakpet flyover on Sunday, the supports of two ticket aspirants – sitting MLA Malreddy Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad Urban Development Authority Chairman D Sudheer Reddy – virtually entered into a brawl to attract the attention of the Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. There were heated arguments between the two groups and they even clashed with the police to be in the front seats, as a result of which the police had to resort to minor lathicharge. More such clashes are in store in the coming days, Gandhi Bhavan sources say.

Who is playing political gimmick?

Naidu, YSR All Set To Enrich Election Manifestoes By Listing Out More Sops For Voters

Hyderabad: Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and his bete noire N Chandrababu Naidu seem to be vying with each other in making tall promises every day.

The chief minister on Sunday announced that he would convert Ranga Reddy into the most prosperous district and would extend the Chevella irrigation project up to Tandur. In a bid to outshine him, the TDP president said that his party was working out modalities to provide free education up to the high school level, 20 percent free seats in engineering and other professional colleges for the meritorious poor students and a special package for farm labourers.

Interestingly, both the leaders claim that these are not poll gimmicks but “their genuine concern for the welfare of the poor.” According to Naidu, the party has invited a team of experts from New Delhi to interact with the committee headed by T Devender Goud on October 6 and 7 and work out the economics and modalities of the announcements made by him in the last two days.

Meanwhile, the officials and some senior Congress leaders feel that the chief minister has fallen into the trap laid by TDP and made a hasty announcement of a Rs 2-kg rice scheme. While the opposition party can make any announcement, the ruling party has to do a lot of homework before committing itself to any populist scheme as it will have to bear the consequences of implementing it if it is returned to power.

If the government goes on announcing populist schemes, it would push the state economy into doldrums and the prestigious housing and irrigation projects would have to take a back seat, officials feel. The finance department has made it clear that it would not be possible to implement the rice scheme this year and the chief minister is understood to have taken a step backward saying that it can be announced in the next budget.

But Reddy feels that his announcement is not an election gimmick. “It is Chandrababu Naidu who is indulging in gimmicks, not me,” he said on Sunday. Justifying his decision, Reddy said that what is important is not how long one is in power but how much one has done for the welfare of the poor. He said he had proved TDP wrong by not only supplying free power but also putting the state’s economy back on rails.

CONG PROMISES
Rs 2-a-kg rice for BPL families
Deepam scheme to involve SHGs in LPG cylinder distribution to rural poor
80 lakh new power connections for Indiramma houses
Extension of Chevella irrigation project up to Tandur
Unemployment dole for youth
100 per cent rural electrification
More funds for SHGs

TDP PROMISES
Free power for nine hours
MSP for paddy on a par with wheat
Upgradation of government schools on a par with corporate schools
Free education up to high school and 20 per cent free seats in professional colleges
Poor to be permitted to sell assigned land
Unemployment dole Cheaper power tariff for poor 3 cents of plot for landless
MIG houses for middle income group

Are Cong, TD schemes to preempt Chiranjeevi?

The Congress and the Telugu Desam have come out with a number of populist schemes promising that they would implement several programmes for the people if elected to power in the May 2009 elections. Though elections are a cool 18 months away, these two main political parties rushed to announce the schemes, catching the attention of voters.

According to informed sources, the sudden rush in announcements is just a clever political ploy to preempt any move by popular film star Chiranjeevi from announcing a political party. Even if Chiranjeevi announces his own political party, these parties feel that it will not make any dent in their vote banks since they had already come out with a series of populist schemes including the Rs 2 a kg rice programme and free power to farmers. This is nothing but to confuse the voters. Chiranjeevi, in case, he forms a political party has to announce these same schemes. Then the Congress and the Telugu Desam will say that the film star has nothing new to offer to the voters, since they had already announced the populist schemes.

Naidu Promises: Gift of colour television sets?

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam President N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday continued the spate of promises on behalf of the party by announcing that he would include in its election manifesto a legal provision for the poor to sell assigned lands.

Addressing a press conference, he also declared that the TDP, if elected to power, would also ensure that every poor family living in rural and urban areas would have a house. To a question whether he would match the DMK Government’s gift of colour television sets, he quipped, “Why not, we shall see.”

Mr. Naidu justified the sops he proposes to give on the ground that the TDP had always been advocating an alternative economic policy to ensure that the benefits of reforms reached the poor. He called for a Statewide debate on the performance of the Congress Government as people needed to be informed of how it had ‘failed miserably’ in fulfilling its pre-poll promises. It should be a point-wise debate of the promises made and to what extent they were delivered.

Fact Sheet: Babu's exam paper for YSR

Yes, it's 100 questions. The Telugu Desam has been coming out with questionnaires time and again on various issues. First it began with a set of a dozen questions. Then it went to 30 and then to 50 and now it's altogether 100 questions. It is a sort of political examination which Telugu Desam supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has been conducting for his bete noire Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy.

On Sunday, the TD leadership came out with a set of 100 questions and demanded that Rajasekhar Reddy answer all of them. The questions ranged from so-called corruption in irrigation projects to the collapse of the scaffolding supporting the underconstruction flyover at Panjagutta in Hyderabad. There's a tagline attached to the question paper. YSR should answer the questions if he were sincere.

As usual Rajasekher Reddy does not bother to answer to TD questions. With the elections fast approaching Chandrababu Naidu is coming out with tougher questions and also increasing the number of questions. Telugu Desam senior leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu posed the questions to the chief minister on behalf of the TD leadership.

Behind The Scene: BJP blackmails TRS

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is desperately trying to retain its whatever little identity it has in the State by raking up the Telangana issue and entering into an alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, has suffered humiliation from TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao who outrightly rejected its friendship.

Now, the BJP is blackmailing the TRS, so as to induce the latter into a pre-poll alliance. While adopting a resolution at its recent Bhopal meeting on Telangana State, the BJP leaders are planning to launch a massive campaing in support of smaller States for decentralisation of powers and for better administration. The party wants to target KCR for playing a political game and raking up profits from the movement, rather than working with the like-minded parties like the BJP. "KCR said that he would hug even a caterpillar for the cause of separate Telangana, but now he is shying away for a united fight with the BJP for a separate State for political gains," BJP national leader Bangaru Lakshman said.

BJP national president Rajnath Singh followed a carrot and stick policy. He gave an option to the TRS president. If the TRS does not want to be a part of the NDA, it can join hands with the BJP only till the Telangana is achieved. Will KCR take the bite?

Why is Sonia pampering AP leaders?

After a long time, AICC president Sonia Gandhi has given a wider representation to Andhra Pradesh in the latest AICC reshuffle. While retaining seniors like N Janardhan Reddy, G Venkatswamy and G Sanjeeva Reddy in the Congress Working Committee, the highest policy making body of the party, Sonia also included Rajahmundry MP Undavalli Arun Kumar as a CWC permanent invitee. Similarly, MLC P Sudhakar Reddy is retained as AICC secretary, while two others - Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki Goud and Parvathipuram MP V Kishore Chandra Deo are included in the core team. Yaski Goud is said to be in the inner circle of Rahul Gandhi, while Kishore Chandra Deo also has good rapport with the Gandhi family.

The reasons for this 'special attachment' are not beyond comprehension. The Congress, which lost heavily in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, wants to retain its hold in Andhra Pradesh, which had sent 29 MPs to Parliament in 2004 elections, out of the Congress' overall tally of 145 in the country. AP contributed 1.49 crore votes to the Congress as against the overall vote count of 10.34 crore in the country in 2004 elections. And, if the Congress is able to hold on to its tally of seats in AP in the next Lok Sabha elections, whenever these are held, the chances are that UPA will retain power at the Centre.

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.