Spy Cams In Rosaiah’s Peshi, Gone Prakash Rao Confirms

According to maverick Congress leader and former AP State Road Transport Commission chairman Gone Prakash Rao, he said he had pressed into action a few secret teams equipped with spy cameras to expose the middlemen and brokers ruling the roost in the chief miniser’s peshi. “Very soon, I will come out with evidences to prove that the CMO has become a haven for political brokers and economic offenders,” he said.

Prakash Rao accused the officials in the Rosaiah’s peshi of protecting the interests of Ramoji group chairman Ch Ramoji Rao who had allegedly encroached upon the government land and blocking the thoroughfare into the villages in the Ramoji Film City. He warned Rosaiah of serious repercussions if he did not intervene and stop the illegal activities in Ramoji film city. “If he does not do it, I will start exposing the stories one after the other like television serials of Ramayana and Mahabharata,” he threatened.

SAMARAMEEE : Jagan VS Sonia

Andhra Pradesh has witnessed heavy rains last week, but the political scene became very hot and naturally, there was a lot of spicy stuff for the media to churn out sensational stories.

The week, however, began on a happy note: our Telugu singing sensation Sreeramchandra Mynampati bagged the prestigious Indian Idol-5 title in the Sony Entertainment Television on the Independence Day by beating his rivals with a very high margin in the popular vote; and our favourite website “greatandhra.com” bagged the prestigious Tata Docomo-Local TV Media Award under the most popular website (general) category. Kudos to Sreeram and Venkat!

Yet another positive development was the call given by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to the Maoists to come to the negotiating table and the response from the Maoist leader Kishanji agreeing for conditional talks. However, the Andhra Pradesh government extended the ban on the Maoist party and its six frontal organizations for one more year.

Another interesting development on the non-political front was the release of disgraced former chairman of Satyam Computers B Ramalinga Raju from his 19-month long judicial custody, after the High Court granted him bail in the sensational Rs 14,000 crore accounting fraud case. His release is a classic example of how big people can get away with the scandals while lesser mortals suffer imprisonment for petty offences.

The sensation of the week on non-political front was expose of drugs racket in the Telugu film industry, which came to light with the arrest of actor Ravi Teja's brothers Raghu and Bharat, who were caught red-handed while purchasing cocaine from a Nigerian three days back. More and more names are coming out with every passing day, sending shivers down the spine of several bigwigs in the Tollywood and also in the political and bureacratic circles. Hope there would be more spice on this next week.

Coming to political front, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi tried to consolidate its gains of the recent by-elections by spreading its wings to rest of the Telangana. The day-long bandh and road blockade in Mahbubnagar district in protest against the smashing of sluice gates of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme was aimed at hitting the Telugu Desam Party below the belt. Simultaneously, there was a mass exodus of the TDP leaders in different parts of the region into the TRS, strengthening its cadre base, much to the disgruntlement of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.

Now, let us come to the hottest topic of the week. As the week closes, it is pretty evident that the Congress high command has more or less closed all the doors on Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is all set to resume his third round of Odarpu Yatra in Prakasam district. The anti-Jagan camp, surprisingly led by union minister Daggubti Purandareshwari and her MLA-husband Venkateshwara Rao, worked overtime in Delhi to widen the gap between the high command and the young MP.

Most part of the week, the Jagan drama took place in New Delhi. The high command summoned pro-Jagan MLAs to Delhi and gave them dressing down for taking part in the yatra. Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel told them in no uncertain terms that they should not take part in Jagan’s yatra, while Chief Minister K Rosaiah tried to prevail upon mines minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy to drop the yatra.

The Daggubati couple made all out efforts to run down Jagan. They made the MLAs write a letter to Jagan, questioning the propriety of taking out the Odarpu Yatra against the wishes of the high command and also his intentions behind talking out the “political yatra.” They advised him to follow the commitment and sincerity of Rahul Gandhi in strengthening the party and the country, without aspiring for any post or position in the government. They also sought to know why he was not denying the reports that he was launching a new political party.

On the other hand, the letter purported to have been written by Jagan’s uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy to Sonia Gandhi expressing his unflinching loyalty to the Nehru-Indira Gandhi family and praising Sonia for making his brother Y S Rajasekhara Reddy chief minister twice, created fluttets in the political circles. The letter was apparently leaked by anti-Jagan camp; but the episode turned out to be storm in tea cup, as Viveka extended his support to Jagan.

The high command’s threats and warnings, however, did not have any impact on Jagan and his group. He is adamant on continuing the yatra. Though some MLAs are in two minds after the high command’s order, there are still some other MLAs who asserted that they would go with Jagan. In fact, Balineni said he was ready to forego the cabinet berth for Jagan.

As if giving the episode a climatic touch, Jagan’s loyalist Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, former TTD chairman, started his fast unto death at Tirupati and it is turning out to be yet another show of strength by Jagan supporters!

Chiranjeevi plays important role for Ravi Teja And Srikanth

Everyone knows that both Ravi Teja and Srikanth are close to Mega Star Chiranjeevi. Both Ravi Teja and Srikanth started facing trouble on the same day. While Ravi Teja’s brothers were arrested red handed in drug scandal, hero Srikanth’s land got occupied by TRS activists and Kaka’s yes-men.

Now who will save these two heroes? It is heard Ravi Teja and Srikanth are planning to meet Chiranjeevi in person seeking help for influencing the government and relieve brothers and land respectively.

In fact Chiru is saying these days that he is becoming very close to Rosiah. Now it is time for him to prove how close he is. Will Chiru try to help his disciples? Even if he tries, will Chiru’s request hold value? Let us wait and see.

Jagan denied Sonia’s Suggestion

Going by Jagan’s open letter to the people, the Congress leaders and cadres were under the impression that Sonia had suggested Jagan to assemble all the families of shock-death victims to one place in every district and extend financial assistance to them. And Jagan, too, explained in the letter that it was meant for consoling the people, not just paying them money. There was some clarity in chief minister K Rosaiah’s statement in July that Sonia wanted the Odarpu Yatra on the lines of a similar programme taken up by the Congress party in Anantapur district in 2002, when the families of suicide victims were brought together and paid financial assistance, but nobody understood it properly.

However, it was only on Thursday that there was more clarity in the form of letter from union minister Purandareshwari, who had a meeting with Sonia Gandhi. Quoting the party president, Purandareshwari said Sonia was not against Odarpu Yatra and unveiling of YSR statues, but she wanted the programme to be organized on behalf of the Congress party and not by an individual. “She suggested that the party should organize meetings in every district, unveil YSR’s statue in the district headquarters and extend financial assistance to the bereaved families. But her suggestion was distorted and she is very upset about it,” Purandareshwari said.

So, it is now clear that Jagan did not completely disclose what Sonia told him. Apparently, he did not want it to be the party show, but his individual show. If the programme is organized by the party, there is nothing for him to do and he cannot get any mileage out of it. Hence, he defied the high command.

Balineni openly supports Jagan

Rosaiah called Minister for Mines and Geology Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and told him not to participate in the Odarpu Yatra of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in Prakasam district, scheduled from September 3, as the Congress high command was totally against the yatra. “I have been asked by Ahmed Patel to convey to you that participating in the Odarpu Yatra amounts to defying the high command. It will risk your position in the Cabinet,” Rosaiah told Balineni, in a rather threatening tone.

However, Balineni said he cared two hoots for the threat. “I am not after positions or posts. I don’t care losing by ministerial berth. I told Rosaiah that I will support Jagan and make the Odarpu Yatra a grand success,” he told the media. Interestingly, Balineni remained silent, when the entire Cabinet which met in the evening resolved to abide by the high command’s decision on the Odarpu Yatra.

Prakasam MLA clarifies that Sonia Is Against Yatra

Sonia expressed openly that she aganist yatra. The high command has given clear instructions to the party MLAs from Prakasam district not to attend the Odarpu Yatra of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The Congress MLA Gottipati Ravi Kumar openly declared to the media in Hyderabad. He said Ahmed Patel told the MLAs categorically that no Congress leader should participate in Jagan’s yatra. He, however, said he would take a decision after discussing with his supporters and people in his constituency on whether he should abide by the high command or defy it to participate in the yatra.

Ravi Kumar said the MLAs tried to prevail upon Jagan to listen to the high command, but the latter did not appear to be relenting. “He is firm on continuing the yatra. But the high command has taken a serious view of it. He is prepared for a showdown with the high command,” the MLA said.