The judgment day is here for Jagan Mohan Reddy, the president of YSR Congress Party. The plea for a bail has reached the Supreme Court and it will decide today whether the son of the late former chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy is a legit candidate for a bail in the case of alleged corruption for which he has been serving prison for over an year.

After a hearing last week, Central Bureau of Investigation was contacted by the apex court on the same seeking an explanation why it thought that JMR should not be granted a bail. They were given a time until May 6 to file and submit their response.

Under the circumstances, a controversial piece of news has emerged. The lawyer for Jagan has quoted a newspaper in the Supreme Court that some Union minister in Hyderabad has expressed that Jagan will have more chances of leaving jail if he merges with Congress, the party of his father.

(AW- Anil)

Mercury going up in the State and news of weather forecasts that it is going to go up more is causing worry among the general public and also authorities. 

A maximum temperature of 45o is already recorded yesterday at Renta Chintala in Guntur District.  Usually Vijayawada, Renta Chintala and Ramagundam compete in recording maximum temperatures in the summer.  But Vijayawada recorded 37.9o and Ramagundam 40.8o. Vijayawada is cooler by 3o compared to that of Hyderabad maximum.  

Kurnool and Nandyala recorded a mamimum of 46o ten years ago and now the heat is going to break it as an increase is expected in a week.  Coastal areas are recording 5o less than that of Rayalaseema area.  

Only the State Capital is witnessing 42o high and going to rise to 45o in a week.  Other cities are recording 40o or below.  

In some of the areas in the State, hot summer coupled with the power shut downs making it difficult to live.  Drinking water scarce areas are in addition to it making it hell for the common man.

Solace to Telangana and Rayalaseema is that there may be rains or showers here and there as announced by Visakha and Hyderabad weather centers.

(AW-SriJa)

CBI Director Ranjit Sinha submitted a nine pages affidavit to Supreme Court today as directed by SC in the last hearing.  The affidavit says that the investigation report of CBI on coal blocks allocation, was altered slightly after CBI had meetings with the Law Minister Aswani Kumar and Attorney General G.E.Vahanvati and Additional Solicitor General Harin Rawal also were present at that time.  

The alterations in the investigation report, as CBI says, were made as per the suggestions made by the Law Minister.

CBI Director Ranjit Sinha's contention is that CBI is not an autonomous body but part of the Government and as such the matter was referred to the law ministry but not anyone else other than those connected with the law.  In his opinion CBI was right in consulting the law minister and going ahead as per his advice.  

But, some of the legal experts say, that the very probe is against the Government action and how the Government can be taken in to confidence and alter the report to suit the Government in that case?

(AW-SriJa)

Exit polls show that Congress Party will come in to power in Karnataka with thumping majority. TV Channels are also in the same opinion. The numbers are also predicted as 110 and 50 for Congress and BJP. Deve Gowda's JD(S) also is likely to win around 50 seats. Congress party is expected to come to power as a single largest party to form Government.

Number of seats expected are varying from news paper to newspaper from 110 to 132, but what they have in common is the majority to Congress Party in the State.

The total number of seats in Karnataka State Assembly is 224 in which BJP was having 110 seats in its pocket falling short of 3 for the magic figure. BJP formed Government with the support of individual candidates where as Congress party was having 80 seats. Now the situation is not only reversing but also Congress is going have a fair chance to form Government without support of any other parties or individuals as per the exit polls survey.

(AW-SriJa)

Turmoil over missing Chandra Babu Naidu in the list of invitees for the unveiling ceremony of NTR Statue in the parliament that is scheduled at 10.30 tomorrow ended with Speaker Meira Kumar’s sending invitation to Chandra Babu Naidu.  The move was commended by TDP MP Nama Nageswara Rao as a positive step from the side of the Government.  

Union Minister Purandheswari who has been organizing the event right from statue making to the final installation in the Parliament and arranging for the ceremony of unveiling by Meira Kumar, sent invitations to all TDP MPs avoiding Chandra Babu Naidu, the Chief of Telugu Desam Party.  It became a problem for Nandamuri family members and also other TDP leaders whether to attend the function or not.  As Chandra Babu was invited and as he readily accepted the invitation and going to attend tomorrow along with MPs and also Ex MPs, the tension in the party has gone now.  

(AW-SriJa)

20 to 30% increase in the call rates are announced by Reliance Communications on GSM and CDMA prepaid connections.

The decision is taken, as the company states, to increase the company's profit by increasing revenue per minute (RPM). Plan 21 and plan 45 will be charged at paise 1.20 per second instead of one paisa per second.

The impact is already witnessed on BSE. Scrips are down by 0.27%.

The Company reasons out its increase in the tariff in a down to earth manner telling that the initial pressure of competition is gone in telecom market as small time operator are closing down and as such the pricing power has gone up which means competitive pricing is no more needed to attract customers as per the Chief Executive Officer Gurdeep Singh.

(AW-SriJa)

Lakshmi Parvathi expressed her anger over the way Parliament Speaker Meira Kumar ignoring her when her husband NTR's statue is going to be unveiled at Parliament tomorrow. She said that it happened due to Purandheswari's behest.  

Lakshmi Parvathi says that she has all the rights to demand an invitation as it is her husband NTR’s statue that is to be unveiling function.  She has gone to extent of saying that she will sue the Speaker and also Purandheswari for this insult.

Lakshmi Parvathi who was declared as his wife by NTR and who stayed with him till his last has been treated as an intruder in to the family by all the family members.  Although NTR accepted her as his wife, NTR’s family members never respected her and she was also kept at a distance in the Telugu Desam Party founded by NTR. Purandheswari being daughter of NTR, never accepted Lakshmi Parvathi the way others too didn’t.

With the feeling of indignity Lakshmi Parvathi took it to heart as not inviting her amounts to not accepting her as NTR’s wife!

(AW-SriJa)

Some of the film personalities were taken by the Government of India to print on postal stamps to mark 100 years of Indian Cinema.  

Out of them are S.V.Rangarao, Allu Ramalingaiah and Bhanumati Ramakrishna as per the joint announcement made by the Movie Artists Association (MAA) and Film Producers Council.  These stamps will be released and made ready for use in the month of June.

They also stated that they are sending recommendations to the Government to include photos of Saluri Rajeswararao and Raghupati Venkaiah Naidu also.

The stamps of 50 eminent cine personalities from the country are going to appear on the postal stamps which will be made in the denomination of Rs.5/-.  

(AW-SriJa)

Congress Party MP Lagadapati Rajagopal praised Ex Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party founder NT Ramarao for his efforts to get global recognition to Telugu speaking people. He expressed his pleasure for placing his statue at Parliament. He also said that at the same time that he was unhappy for the disputes came up in the statue unveiling event.

While talking to the media representatives today, he reminded that Balayogi belonged to TDP was the Speaker of Parliament and TDP was in power in the State. A decision also was taken by the Government at that time that the statues of Alluri Sitaramaju and that of N.T.Rama Rao to be placed in the Parliament. Still, he alleges, NTR's statue was not initiated by TDP at that time to be made and placed at Parliament.

Lagadapati objected making the invitations an issue. Near and dear, he says, will always attend a function irrespective of the invitation. He quoted one saying in Telugu that the ones who attend on invitation are relatives but the ones who just attend without a formal invitation are the ones close to the heart.

Lagadapati says that it is heartening to note that the persons who brought disrespect to NTR when he was alive are making the statue function a disputable event now!

(AW-SriJa)

While the question is still a farcry at the moment, Endowment Minister C Ramachandraiah has been endowing all his recommendations on the Union Tourism Development Minister Chiranjeevi. He showered a few more praises on the Union Minister saying that he was the candidate fit to be the CM of the state, probably even better than the current CM Kiran Kumar Reddy.

He stated that Chiranjeevi was essential for Congress and that they needed his services. He even said that there was nothing wrong if Chiranjeevi wanted to be the CM candidate for the next polls.

Endowment minister C Ramachandraiah seems to have taken the responsibility of endorsing Union Minister Chiranjeevi. The senior politician came up with some sensational comments yet again. Taking the name of people, he said they are of the opinion that Megastar would be a better option than CM Kiran Kumar Reddy to lead Congress, Ramachandraiah said speaking in Vijayawada.

The CM's inner circles on the other hands have been blaming Chiranjeevi for using C Ramachandraiah for his benefit and ulterior goals of being the CM. They added that it was Congress that resurrected his political life from PRP offering him a Union Ministry but he is greedy for more.

In fact, Chiranjeevi despite being the Union Minister has not done anything significant to the benefit of the party yet. It was only his recent Karnataka Campaign that has worked in his favor when he drew the attention of the High Command. With such recognition there is a fair chance of leading the Congress party for 2014 elections.

(AW- Anil)

YSR Congress and veteran film actor Mohan Babu have not been finding their sync yet. Mohan Babu who has been making endless efforts to get back into the political game has sought the keys from YSR Congress party to contest from the 2014 general elections. From the inner sources in the party, we hear that the YSR Congress party has no problem taking him in the party but they offer no seat for contesting the 2014 elections.

Mohan Babu who has a good name in the Chittoor District, which has two Lok Sabha representations, has been denied a contest from Tirupathi or Chittoor since the areas were reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Mohan Babu adjusted with that issue but he wanted an MP seat from Coastal Andhra districts now to which the YSRC is clearly not agreeing.

The party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy replied with a firm no. Through the members of his party, he also let the actor know that the party would not give any assurance on the contest of election to any leader until the election schedule is announced.

Mohan Babu stayed silent though disappointed with the negative response and it apprears that his silence is the calm before the storm of his political re-entry after severing ties with TDP and N Chandrababu Naidu in 2004.

(AW- Anil)

A long discussion for 3 hours went on at Secretariat today to solve the practical problems faced in the implementation of the Amma Hastam Scheme. Civil Supplies Minister Sridhara Babu held the meeting with the subcommittee.

After the meeting, the minister said that all care will be taken to ensure a no problem implementation of the scheme that is made to benefit the poor. He also said that a food advisory committee will be created. Sridhara Babu says that transparency and accountability are the main factors to be ensured in the implementation of the scheme.

Sridhara Babu said that the convenience of the dealers is also taken in to consideration in making the DD payments. They are allowed to pay in three installments to take the goods instead of paying at a time. The needy dealers also will be helped in getting Bank loans to help financially to run the service oriented business.

The minister also said that the Chief Minister wants to add tooth pastes and soaps also to the existing daily needs of 9 items to supply at a lower rate than in the market and a study is going in that direction.

(AW-SriJa)

YS Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party is going commercial way in respect of publicity nowadays.  Always a popular face (or entire body) is used in commercial ads to attract more viewers and also for repeated viewing. The idea is to make the viewers link the product in their minds with the prominent person in the ad so that whenever the ad personalities are seen in their own field of action, the product tagged with them also pops up in their minds.  There need not be any direct connection between the product and the brand ambassador.  The brand ambassador may or may not use that product.  

The same concept seems to have struck to the minds of YSR Congress Party leaders.  In their own vinyl boards they sometimes add a photo of someone known to you standing among others leaders who may not be known.  

When they first used NTR’s photo there were some comments exchanged between the parties without much serious after effects.  But using Junior NTR photo made ripples in the TDP that led to an internal war.  Afterwards Mahesh Babu, Venkatesh, Krishna, Prabhas also found place in the vinyl flex boards made by YSCP.  Some speculations took place at that time.  Recently Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s photo appeared on the YSCP vinyl at Kutbullapur.

Congress MLA of Kutbullahpur Kuna Srisailam Gowd joined YSCP yesterday and the Honorary President of the party YS Vijayamma was invited for the occasion.  Kuna’s supporters made a big vinyl flex with YSR, Jagan, Vijayamma, Sharmila and of course, the main person of the occasion Kuna.  Interestingly, this time instead of Andhra Pradesh stars, cricket star’s photo was prominently printed on the flex.  Thanks to the last gesture of YSCP, all speculations previously rented the political air is going to get thin now.  

AW-SriJa

It is always easy to pull a prominent person out and subject him to criticism.  If a common man is criticized, it fails to interest any.  That is why only a famous personality is chosen. Mud throwing is usually blindly followed by others who even are not connected with the incident.  And also it is common to sympathize with the week at the end of the incident so that the blame on the targeted person will be strong enough.   Same thing happened in the case of Ram Charan Teja yesterday.  

A vehicle was obstructing his way in Hyderabad where Ramcharan has a right to take a free left turn as per the traffic rules. Ramcharan did not know who the persons were in front of his car.  He had no enmity with them.   He has a right in the traffic in the direction he was going.  After he horned and requested the guys in the vehicle in front of him, recognizing the cine hero, instead of giving him way for which he was entitled to, they wanted to provoke him for the sake of fun.  In traffic, one has to yell to make the voice reach the intended listener even if it is an exchange of a kind word.  Ramcharan asked them to give way but they were in a I don’t care, do whatever you want to mood.  Sensing trouble from them, Ramcharan stopped his vehicle at the next traffic signal and called his body guards.  Remaining scene is in the papers.  

Everyone saw only from one side of the story- only the end scene.  Manhandling resorted to by the body guards of Ramcharan is not a pleasant end but what led the consequences were ignored by almost all.  

No one of Ramcharan's stature wants any trouble particularly in public.  Provocation is not an excuse for turning violent but as the incident took place, the idea of the teasers might not be a conspiracy to bring a bad name to the star son of Mega Star who is gaining popularity in the political field too, but only to have a small fun on go.   

In the news, Ramcharan was described as a person showing his weight to rough up the innocent persons.  As the news narrate, he yelled at the persons, stopped their car, called his body guards and the persons who incidentally were software professionals were thrashed.

As the case is clear, they could not register a case.  But one should remember that it is good to refrain from teasing a celebrity.  You do not know the urgency of a person in traffic and celebrities hardly have time for small games.  There are worse incidents in the past when there were break downs of vehicles carrying actresses and the on goers recognized them.

AW-SriJa

The Speaker of the Assembly Nadendla Manohar issued notices again to 18 Members of the Assembly who acted against the Party they belong to as per the recommendations received from the Party Chiefs as some of them did not respond to previous notices.  In the fresh notices, the Speaker asked them to give an explanation in person for voting against their party’s stand in the No Trust Motion introduced by TRS on 15th March.

A long time is taken in sending notices and in taking action on them.  Even the MLAs requested the Speaker to take a decision immediately.  The notices called 9 Members to personally meet him on 13th and 9 on 14th.  

The speaker might have considered some of the following facts for that.

Removing 18 MLAs will lead to by polls that will cost money for the Government and also in general.  Government plans and activities will come to stand still for some time.  Outcome of the polls cannot be predicted.  In case it goes in favor of the opposition parties- YSRC in the case of 18 rebel MLAs, it may influence general elections too.  If YSRC gets a full sweep in 18 constituencies, MLAs from other Constituencies may cross the fence to go to YSRC camp for sure results.  Congress Party was not fully ready for the elections at that time.  Now, with the introduction of popular Government Schemes, it can be given a try now.   And above all if the time left for general elections is only one year, by polls will not take place as cleared by the Election Commission.  

The notices are served now to explain in person.  Then it will be referred to the Party heads to consider the explanation.  If the party heads are not satisfied with the explanation, they may ask the Speaker to remove them from the Membership of Legislative Assembly.  All this may take considerable time at the end of which the Members may lose their Membership and also may not have a chance to go for by polls.

Delhi Congress Party heads naturally expressed their satisfaction over the Speaker’s decision to send notices now.

AW-SriJa

It is the pride of Telugu people to have their matinee idol turned politician's statue placed in the Parliament.  Although NTR brought a recognition to Telugu land and Telugu people who were previously 'Madrasis' for North Indians, he started a regional Telugu Desam Party on a stand against the Center and more particularly against Indira Gandhi family members.  Because of that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi did not attend the NTR unveiling function today.  

Although NTR became popular because of his TDP, he was overthrown by the present TDP President Chandra Babu Naidu who incidentally was his son in law, that made some of the members of the NTR family go against Chandra Babu.  As the Idol making to unveiling was organized by NTR’s daughter and Union Minister Purandheswari,  she as a congress party member and as a family member of NTR against Chandra Babu did not send invitation to Chandra Babu but sent to TDP MPs and other family members of NTR.  First it made a commotion in the TDP.  Then second wife of NTR, Lakshmi Parvathi was invited.  Lakshmi Parvathi’s objection was not taken seriously by any but TDP Chief Chandra Babu was invited by the Parliament Speaker Meira Kumar to close the issue. A last minute invitation was sent to Lakshmi Parvathi by the Speaker and also Purandheswari for which Lakshmi Parvati felt happy and rushed to Delhi to attend the function.

Lastly the event also ended with the criticism by TDP MP Nama Nageswara Rao that Sonia Gandhi insulted a great leader by being absent to the unveiling of NTR function held at Parliament.

In spite of all the comments, grieves, dissatisfactions, jubiliations, prides, protests and other feelings, the statue is unveiled by the speaker Merira Kumar as scheduled that attended by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hameed Ansari, BJP leaders Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Murali Manohar Joshi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Arun Jaitley, TDP Chief Chandra Babu,  TDP MPs, NTR family members Purandheswari, Hari Krishna, Balakrishna, Jr.NTR, Union ministers Jairam Ramesh, Pallamraju, Gulam Nabi Azad, Jaipal Reddy, Chiranjeevi, Kruparani, Sarve Satyanarayana, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and others.  

AW-SriJa

Ex CBI Director Vijaya Rama Rao today talked in the meeting held by Jana Chaitanya Vedika and APSA in collaboration in which he accepted that the interference of the Government is always there but it never happened that a report first shown to the Government before it is submitted the way it is done in the case of investigation report submitted by CBI to Supreme Court after it was gone through by the Law Minister, the Attorney General and the Additional Solicitor and the report is amended as per their suggestions.

The Meeting was held to debate on the issue of the possibility of CBI and Investigating Agencies to have independent authorities to carry out the investigations.

In the discussions, Ex Secretary of Union Home Ministry Padmanabhaiah opined that the investigating wing of corruption should be divided from CBI. He objected for the Government's not giving permission to prosecute the ministers on whom charge sheet was made by CBI and also the way ministers continue working from their offices. The issue is also taken up by some parties objecting the main opposition in State Telugu Desam Party keeping silence on it.

Vijaya Rama Rao stated that Government influence on the investigations are quite common as per his own experience as Director of the investigating agency.

(AW-SriJa)

Welfare of the people seems to be the least priority of the political leaders and they are making no secret about it.  

As there is ample of time for the General Elections in 2014, leaders are freely changing and adjusting themselves to the comfortable positions in the parties.  

Recently Dadi Veerabhadra Rao a senior leader of Telugu Desam Party left the party to join YSR Cong Party with an excuse of not extending his tenure of MLC by TDP Chief Chandra Babu Naidu.  But Konathala Ramakrishna, the loyal and senior leader worked with YS Rajasekhara Reddy extended his loyalty to work with YS Jagan objected to Dadi Veerabhadra Rao’s entry in to YSR Cong party.  As the objections made by Konatala much prior to the meeting of Dadi with Jagan were not taken seriously, Konatala is showing indications of going back to the parent party Congress.

Konatala Ramakrishna met PCC President Botsa Satyanarayana that made whispers to turn to audible volumes that he is going to join Congress Party.  Konatala expressed his displeasure about Dadi’s entry despite his prior warning to Jagan and also Vijayamma.  Although he was in the first band of leaders to join YSR Cong party and to make it strong with his own followers, he is going back to the Congress camp along with his followers with the excuse that Dadi entry has made an exit for him.

AW-SriJa

Hitesh Chenchuram Son of Congress Union Minister Purandheswari and Congress MLA Daggubati Venkateswara Rao is engaged with Sripuja, granddaughter of Kamineni Suryanarayana of KIMS Hospital.

Wedding date is fixed for May 25th and a grand reception is fixed for June 3rd at Visakhapatnam.  As Nandamuri Sai Krishna’s daughter is already wedded to the Kamineni boy, it is only a second marriage tie up between the two families of Daggubati and Kamineni.   

Chiranjeevi already became close to the NTR family with the marriage Ram Charan and Upasana is now getting closer with this marriage.  

The reception on 3rd June may be graced with the visit of Congress Party Chief Sonia Gandhi at Vizag.  Other political leaders and Cine personalities are going to make the event colorful and make it grandeur.

AW-SriJa

It is known from reliable sources that Jayaprada is going to get Rajamundry Parliamentary seat in the coming elections.

Jayaprada who is serving Congress from UP wants to come back to her own State and her prayers seem to have been heard.

When Jayaprada visited AP last time a lot of speculations were going on about the party she wants to join. It could be BJP or TDP or YSRCong. It was the Rajamundry seat that mattered her not the party. TDP could not promise it as it is reserved for Murali Mohan. YSR Cong party did not make any promises either. At last congress party heard her and making adjustments accordingly.

(AW-SriJa)