Fighter of Fraudsters Faces a Scam Attempt

Congress MLA Adi Srinivas, at the forefront of protecting workers heading to the Gulf from fraudulent agents, found himself at the receiving end of a scam call. The incident unfolded while the MLA was addressing petitions at his camp office the other day. Much to his surprise, a woman claiming to represent a Gulf recruitment agency phoned him, promising a lucrative job opportunity in the Middle East. Unaware of who she was speaking to, the scammer confidently outlined a ‘golden opportunity’, asking Srinivas if he was interested in pursuing a high-paying Gulf job. Amused but aware of the gravity of the scam, the MLA immediately reported the call to the police. Upon investigation, authorities confirmed that the call originated from a fake recruitment agency notorious for swindling lakhs of rupees from unsuspecting job-seekers. “Even the MLA isn’t safe from these fraudsters,” quipped a police officer, highlighting the widespread nature of the scam.

Bitter twist to Turkish ‘delight’

Against the backdrop of Turkey’s backing of Pakistan after the Pahalgam terrorist attack on innocent Indians, one would expect none to cavort with the foe. Or for that matter, the foe’s friend. Turkish delights may be irresistible for some, or as was the case a few days ago, for several party circuit folks of the city. Eyebrows are being raised over how enthusiastic attendance by several of such folks at an event organised by Turkey Consulate earlier this month, despite that country’s known proclivity towards Pakistan which yet again emerged as villain No. 1 with its support to terror groups plaguing India for decades. An enemy’s enemy may be a ‘friend’ under some circumstances, but a foe’s friend, is by no means a friend. Missing this point and falling for the lure of razzle dazzle of an evening, with part of the event’s heft picked up by a media house, were some ‘celebrities’ including Indo-Turkiye Friendship Association’s Faiz Khan, actor Naresh, as well as some self-annointed ‘culture keepers’ of the city. How the attendees found the evening palatable is the question that is doing the rounds given Turkey’s ties with Pakistan. This was proved yet again with India on Friday declaring that Turkey made drones were used by Pakistan in the attacks mounted on India on the night of May 8.

CS gets boots on ground, babus beware

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's call for IAS officers to ditch their AC rooms and hit the ground running seems to have found a strong advocate in newly-appointed Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao. Just a day after assuming office, Rao wasted no time inspecting the Metro Rail expansion works in Hyderabad, and some city flyovers, catching officials off guard. The surprises didn’t end there. The very next day, Rao made an unexpected appearance in a teleconference held by Mission Bhagiratha officials. The conference, intended to assess the drinking water supply situation for the summer, took a dramatic turn when Rao’s voice suddenly joined the call. Stunned officials scrambled to provide updates, clearly unprepared for the high-level attention. Sources say this hands-on approach is sending ripples through government departments, with whispers that Rao's unannounced visits may become the new normal. For now, it seems the Chief Secretary is taking the ‘ground reality check’ quite literally. Officials, better stay sharp — Rao might just be around lending his ear to the goings on.

In Nalgonda, looking for a new ‘Tiger’

It is not always that the title of ‘Tiger’ comes calling. And when it does, the question of who dons this mantle can get to be a tricky one if one goes by a recent conversation involving ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and N. Uttam Kumar Reddy. During a review meeting with officials at Miryalaguda, Uttam referred to Venkat Reddy as a Tiger. But the latter was quick to disown the title declaring that the title should rightfully belong to Uttam, for the way he had been conducting a series of such reviews in Nalgonda district and putting, well the fear of a tiger stalking the area among officials. Earlier, the Tiger title was reserved for senior Congress senior leader from the district, Ramreddy Damodar Reddy. His never-say-never attitude of protecting party cadre in Thungathurthy Assembly constituency, once known for serious politicial rivalries, earned Damodar Reddy the moniker but now with age catching up with him, the territory is apparently ready for a new Tiger to take over.

Gadkari tries his hand at Telugu

Speaking in someone’s mother tongue can surely hit home the message. Such was the case during Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s recent programme at Asifabad. Adilabad’s BJP MP Godam Nagesh’s speech at the event was in Marathi, Gadkari’s mother tongue, and Nagesh sought the minister’s help in getting clearances for the pending roads and sanctioning of new roads for the erstwhile unified Adilabad district. Gadkari took notice of Nagesh’s speech, and then, when his turn came, demonstrated he too was clued in to the needs of the locals, beginning his speech in Telugu asking the crowd “Bagunnara? Andariki Namaskaram.”

Giant killer chooses to be ‘strong and silent’

The strong silent type may be a figment of imagination for some, but for Kamareddy’s BJP MLA Katipally Venkataramana Reddy, not saying anything also means sending a strong message. Katipally, the giant killer in the 2023 Assembly elections handing out defeat to former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the then TPCC chief and now Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, had once threw an open challenge that he would be the CM someday. But, to get there, other positions could be of help and in that pursuit, pitched himself for the Telangana BJP chief’s post but nothing was heard of it afterwards. However, with this position in limbo, Katipally has chosen to lie low for now, given the hope that the party will pick someone like him with strong RSS and BJP roots as the next state BJP president.

We got it right — PK was miffed with seat away from PM

It’s official! Pawan Kalyan was terribly upset over the seating arrangement at the recent Amaravati Restart public meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, so much so that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had to acknowledge his deputy’s mood and pull up the protocol officials for the seating goof-up. ‘Deccan Chronicle’ had highlighted the discrepancy of PK being pushed away from the PM and the CM and having a Union minister sit in between. The film hero couldn’t hide his emotions, put up an all-is-well act on the dais, and avoided eye contact with Modi and Naidu after his speech and sat in his allotted chair. This was in contrast to other speakers like Lokesh who walked up to the PM to seek his blessings. Sensing the uneasiness in the air, PM called PK who initially didn’t notice SPG personnel prompting him, and Naidu had to bring that to PK’s notice. Apparently to cool down the tension, PM offered Koflet lozenges to PK and had a brief chat with him on stage. At Saturday’s Cabinet meeting Naidu suggested that PK should have been seated next to him, pushing Union ministers to the other side. But that would have pushed Lokesh even farther, again a problem. This placed the protocol folks in a predicament resulting in the incident on the dais.

Vundavalli steps in but may help PSR

The former Lok Sabha member Vundavilli Aruna Kumar stirred the hornet's-nest in a recent media conference at Rajamahendravaram, finding fault with the arrest of DGP rank official P.S.R. Anjaneyulu while not doing the same with IPS officer and former DGP K. Rajendranadha Reddy in the Kadambari Jatwani case, after Reddy’s name too figured in the case. Vundavalli alleged that the ‘go ahead’ for the actress’ arrest came from Reddy. Even as the law takes its course in the case, the word doing the rounds in the police circles is that the plot twist of Vundavalli’s efforts were to complicate the issue which could possibly help Anjaneyulu with the latter getting a likely chance to say he was only following orders.

AP SSC toppers get a ride of a lifetime

There is nothing quite like a reward for hard work. This was the experience of several top scorers in Class X exams in AP who got a chance to fly in an airplane for the first time. Making this dream come true were a teacher, an education officer, and an MLA who sponsored the flight tickets. Nandigama MLA Tangirala Sowmya took six students from government schools who scored over 570/600 marks in Class X and studied in government schools, in the flight to Hyderabad from Vijayawada. Two Class X toppers from a government school in Vizianagaram district got to fly from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam with their Telugu teacher M. Satya Rao sponsoring the trip, while five other kids from Beluguppa mandal in Anantapur district rode in a plane from Bengaluru to Hyderabad, with the mandal education officer Malla Reddy keeping his promise. While the kids, all from poor backgrounds, gushed at the experience of flying, the MLA, the teacher, and the MEO showed that the best way to lead is by example, by keeping a promise, something the kids promised they would keep to by studying even harder and doing well in their future academics.

Contributions from Vadrevu Srinivas, Sampat G. Samritan, Pillalamarri Srinivas, N. Vamsi Srinivas, P. Srinivas, Narender Pulloor, Balu Pulipaka