Chiranjeevi prajaankitham in kukatpally

Rising and Falling in 2008

The year 2008 left its deep mark on our State. Swinging fortunes of these individuals have affected our political, economic, cultural and sports graphs. Deccan Post takes a look at rise and fall of a few prominent politicians, businessmen, film and sports celebrities during this period.

Gainers

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy
Normally, last year in power would always be a testing time for leader of the ruling party. But not for Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. He started off with a series of populist schemes such as Rs 2 a kg rice scheme and reimbursement of fees for Backward Class students that were instant hit. There was copious rainfall, which helped him continue free power supply scheme without any hassles; he inaugurated a few irrigation projects and laid foundation to a few others, as part of Jalayagnam.

Politically, YSR scored several points over his opponents: the Congress won six Assembly seats, including five seats represented by Telangana Rashtra Samithi and he could establish before the Congress high command that it was a positive vote for his government and that there is not much Telangana sentiment. At the same time, he could successfully silence his critics within the party. In spite of Chiranjeevi factor and upsurge of the Opposition parties, YSR is entering the New Year with a positive and optimistic note.

N Chandrababu Naidu
For Telugu Desam president and Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu, the year 2008, too, has been very positive. At a time when everybody thought the TD was down and out, Naidu resurrected the party with his sheer fighting spirit, notwithstanding large-scale exodus of leaders and cadres into Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party. His party sprang surprise among political pundits by winning four Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.

Naidu's biggest achievement has been bringing unity among the Opposition parties. Though he failed to sustain the UNPA as a third alternative, he could successfully convince the Left parties to join hands with him and lay foundation for a third front. By declaring his unstinted support to the Telangana demand, Naidu could not only consolidate his vote bank in Telangana, but also attract Telangana Rashtra Samithi into the third front camp. What is more, he could also bring together all the family members of his father-in-law N T Rama Rao and get their support to TD. By and large, Naidu is optimistic of a great revival for him and TD in the New Year.

G Mallikarjuna Rao
The global meltdown notwithstanding, 58-year old Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, chairman of GMR group, has made it big news this year by ranking 198th rank in the world's richest list by Forbes and 14th on the India Rich list.

The inauguration of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, constructed by GMR group, has put Mallikarjuna Rao on the top and made Andhra Pradesh proud. Various other infrastructure projects taken up by his group in the State and different parts of the country, including modernization of Delhi airport, are in full swing.

An avid sports lover, Mallikarjuna Rao also made it to news by promoting Delhi Dare Devils team in the Indian Premier League's T-20 cricket tourney in April-June this year. The franchise team has reached the semi-finals in the tournament.

Saina Nehwal
Andhra Pradesh's badminton sensation Saina Nehwal has created a big name for herself this year. At a time when all other sportspersons were drawing blank at the Beijing Olymics this year, 18-year old Nehwal went up to quarter-finals and came within a few points of scoring a medal. Though she lost in the quarters, she was acknowledged as India's best performing woman badminton player ever.

As the year is coming to an end, Saina created yet another sensation in the World Super Series Masters tournament in Malaysia. She reached semi-finals and was almost on the verge of finals, when she lost the crucial game. Yet, she earned a lot of laurels for AP and the country.

Duvvuri Subba Rao
The year 2008 saw yet another Telugu man making it to the hot seat. Fifty-seven year old Duvvuri Subba Rao, finance secretary of India, replaced another Telugu man Yaga Venugopal Reddy as 22nd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India on September 1, 2008.

The 1972-batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh cadre has taken the charge at a time when the country's economy was in a bad shape. Subba Rao immediately announced a series of corrective measures such as bringing down of repo rate and making banks to reduce interest rates on home loans. He is expected to focus on many other fiscal reforms to see that economy goes back on tracks in the coming months.

Losers

B Ramalinga Raju
The year 2008 might have begun on a positive note for Satyam group chairman B Ramalinga Raju, but as it comes to a close, he has lost his face completely. The crash in software industry across the globe has had a serious effect on Satyam group, so much so that Ramalinga Raju desperately tried to safeguard his and his family's interests through backdoor methods.

His attempt to take over his son's Maytas group in a non-transparent way triggered wild protests from the shareholders and he was compelled to beat a retreat. The share value of Satyam has gone down and so was the image of Ramalinga Raju. What is worse, the World Bank has imposed a seven-year ban on Satyam, alleging that the latter had resorted to fraudulent methods in extending software services to the Bank.

The latest news is that he might step down as Satyam chief or might even be sacked.

K Chandrasekhara Rao
For Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao, the year 2008 proved to be a very bad year. His attempt to repeat the 2006 experiment boomeranged , as his party lost nine seats to the Congress and Telugu Desam in the by-elections he had thrust upon the people of Telangana. KCR himself managed to scrape through in bypoll to Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat with a meager 15,000 votes majority, compared to more than 2 lakh votes he got in 2006. And KCR blamed it on the people of Telangana and even offered to step down as TRS president..

Because of his poor political strategies, KCR has lost the advantage of being the champion of Telangana cause. The issue has been hijacked by all other parties – Nava Telangana Party, Telugu Desam, CPI and even newly formed Praja Rajyam Party of Chiranjeevi. Now, KCR is desperately looking for an alliance with TD-Left combine or PRP to retain his identity.

Ramoji Rao
Media moghul of Andhra Pradesh Cherukuri Ramoji Rao faced the toughest of times in his life during the concluding year 2008. On the media front, his Eenadu daily has faced a major challenge from Sakshi, launched by Chief Minister's son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. The circulation of Eenadu has dwindled over the last few months and it has lost its No. 1 position to Sakshi. The image of Ramoji Rao took further beating when his younger son Suman revolted against him and gave an interview to Sakshi, alleging that his father had unceremoniously sacked him from ETV.

On the business front, Ramoji Rao faced a lot of humiliations. He was summoned to IT department, where he was grilled for several hours without being offered a seat, on the Margadarsi issue. If everything goes YSR way, Ramoji Rao might even face imprisonment, it is learnt.

Sania Mirza
All was not well with Hyderabadi tennis star Sania Mirza in 2008. The year began on a controversial note for Sania, when she was photographed barefooted before the national flag. She even went to the extent of saying that she considered quitting the sport because of undue controversy surrounding her actions. Later, she kicked up another controversy, when she said she would stop appearing in tennis tournaments held in India, starting with the 2008 Bangalore Open in March, citing the series of controversies.

Sania was ranking 32 in the beginning of the year, when she played the Australian open, but subsequently, her rank has started going down and she is now ranking above 100. She did not play many tournaments thereafter and got eliminated in the initial rounds itself in Wimbledon and Olympics. The saving grace for Sania at the fag end of the year is that she awarded Doctorate by Chennai University.

Ramgopal Verma
Ace film director-producer Ramgopal Verma, who left Tollywood for good and was making films only in Bollywood, virtually drew a blank at the box office this year.

All his films, starting from Sarkar Raj to Aag to Phoonk failed to draw crowds to theatres, despite his tall claims. He tried to make a return to Telugu film industry, albeit indirectly, through "Raksha," remake of Phoonk, based on Telugu novelist Yandamuri Veerandranath's novel, but, it, too, fared badly at the box office.

As if adding to his miseries, Ramgopal Verma hit the headlines for wrong reasons: he accompanied former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh to Taj Hotel, which was attacked by terrorists on November 26. Deshmukh had to pay the penalty for it by resigning from his post.