During the recent election campaign, he was the lightning rod that took every bolt of criticism that came his way, and in the way of the Congress. Now, as the new Chief Minister of Telangana state, A. Revanth Reddy is being described as a man who likes to work at lightning speed. Congress leaders say Revanth in Sanskrit means ‘bright and radiant’, and that his style of functioning reflects these qualities. The implementation of two out of Six Guarantees promised by the Congress to the people in the run-up to the Assembly polls in just two days of coming to power proves his lightning speed, they say. The bureaucratic corridors are beginning to buzz on how Revanth is keeping ministers and officials on tenterhooks with his back-to-back meetings and seeking reports from them on various departments, and to draft an action plan for the next 100 days to implement all Six Guarantees as promised.
COP SHOOED AWAY BY COP?
It does not matter how important one might be while in a crowd. The cops will ask you to get out of the way if you are not an immediately recognisable figure. Such was the experience of IAS officer and former district collector of Adilabad, Musharraf Ali Faruqui, who at the Jyotiba Phule Praja Bhavan was asked by a police officer to move aside and clear a corner of the hall where Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was collecting petitions from the people during the first-ever Praja Darbar by a Chief Minister in Telangana state on Friday. Faruqui had to explain twice that he was an IAS officer on duty at the Praja Bhavan and only then the police officer moved away to shush and shoo others milling about in the hall. Faruqui on his part just smiled away the incident.
TRAFFIC WOES CONTINUE AMIDST SWEARING IN
The swearing-in ceremony of TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy as Chief Minister, and that of his Cabinet members at the LB Stadium on Thursday amidst a sea of people, was an event that tens of thousands who joined in the celebrations will remember. However, there are some who would rather not, especially some top officials of the police department who just could not handle the crowds nor manage the traffic leading to the stadium that left not just Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s convoy stuck in traffic but also saw some minister nominees leaving their cars and walking quickly to the venue. While at least one top cop is believed to have received an earful from a newly appointed minister for the lapses, this official, adopting a never-say-die attitude, is reportedly trying to impress the political bosses and is hoping to land a plum post in the new government.
BJP LOOKS TO VAASTU REMEDIES
With their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh starting courses in astrology, Vaastu and Purohit Vidya as part of the curriculum in school education, looks like the Telangana state BJP has learned a lesson or two from its MP colleagues. The party’s head office in Nampally, Hyderabad, which has its main entrance facing the building’s gate, has now been shut and a side entrance has, for now, become the main entrance. It all boils down to Vaastu that the stars did not shine quite as brightly as the party hoped in the Telangana state elections, and now gearing up for the Parliament elections next year, the BJP unit hopes to fare better by warding off any evil that cast an eye on it, by shifting the entrance into the building. Clearly, the BJP in Telangana state, it appears, is looking for a new direction.
SOCIAL MEDIA NO GAUGE FOR SUCCESS
Sampath Naik, the Jana Sena candidate from the Wyra constituency, received more likes on his recent social media post than the votes he secured in the recently concluded Telangana state elections. The JS lost from all seats it contested, but the debacle was most evident in Wyra where the party struggled to make its presence felt. Naik took to Twitter on the morning of the polls with a post urging people to ‘Vote for glass’ along with a picture of himself. The post quickly garnered over 3,200 likes on the platform, indicating decent traction among social media users. However, when the votes were counted, Naik managed only 2,712 votes. Apparently, likes on social media accounts don’t quite turn into actual votes.
PAWAN HAS MASTERED THE ZERO SAYS RGV
Never one to let go of an opportunity to take well-timed, and well-aimed digs, movie director Ram Gopal Varma the other day let loose a zinger targeted at Pawan Kalyan, whose Jana Sena failed to make its presence felt in the Telangana state elections. Varma got the ancient and the present together, declaring that the Indian mathematician of yore, Aryabhatta, credited with inventing the ‘zero’, had merely laid the groundwork but it was Pawan who truly mastered the art of inventing zeros, especially in politics. Meanwhile, apparently some Janasainiks are praying that Pawan lands himself in jail for a while, believing that time spent behind bars would add some muscle to the political resume. They are pointing to the AP and Telangana state Chief Ministers who spent some time in prison.
