Neta Natter | Kancha Row Nixes a Foreign Junket

Flights of fancy have a way of getting grounded. The latest to experience this is a top official of the Telangana forest department who was all set to fly to the distant land of Australia, just a few weeks before retirement, ostensibly on a study tour of mining in that country. Everything was organised and set, but then it was time for the best laid plans to, well, go awry. The sudden eruption of the Kancha Gachibowli land issue meant an immediate cancellation of the tour, and boomeranging of the planned trip to Australia.

Revanth’s boost for revenue staff

In a twist no one saw coming, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy quietly retired the controversial Dharani portal — not with a grand public rally, but with a nod to the people who actually make government policies work: Revenue staff. Though the original plan was dramatic — Revanth had once vowed to dump Dharani into the Bay of Bengal — he skipped the showbiz. Cabinet ministers pitched a mega public meeting with lakhs in attendance, but Revanth declined. “Revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy offered to pack in a lakh people at Khammam,” Revanth revealed. “But I told him — bring in the revenue staff instead.” Revanth launched the new Bhu Bharati portal surrounded by revenue officials from the revenue inspector to CCLA-level. His reason? “It’s not ministers or crowds that implement reforms — it’s the revenue staff.”

Kavitha’s ‘tough’ talk earns sniggers

Talking tough sometimes comes with a price and recently it was the turn of BRS MLC K. Kavitha attempting to regain attention following her revelation that she can be a “rowdy” type if called for. Though she did not clearly mean that she can be the dictionary definition of the word, and it was more of her willingness to get tough if needed, her comments at a BRS meeting in Banswada left several party folks wondering if it was this very “tough” image, that ended up in her losing the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In any case, her announcement that she would maintain a ‘Pink Book (hit list)’ to haunt political opponents, had party tongues wagging.

Dayakar earns ire of women wronged

The once-powerful BRS leader and former minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao has been wading through some unfamiliar waters ever since he lost his Palakurthy Assembly seat in the last elections to the Congress’ Yashashwini Reddy, who won thanks to her mother-in-law Jhansi Reddy. With Dayakar Rao’s repeated barbs at the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, it was just a matter of time before the duo hit back. The MLA, and Jhansi Reddy, are no longer mincing words when it comes to Dayakar Rao, declaring that it is time “he gave up his imaginary starring role in an imaginary soap opera.” They contend that after losing the election, the former MLA is trying hard to create hurdles in development works in the constituency and warned him that their patience can only stretch so far and, that come next elections, Dayakar will yet again bite the dust.

Congress cold war turns a hot affair

It may be a sizzling hot summer in Adilabad district but there is a frigid cold war brewing between two Congress MLAs, K. Premsagar Rao from Mancherial, and Gaddam Vivek from Chennur, both aspiring for a place in the Revanth Reddy Cabinet. With word doing the rounds that the expected Cabinet expansion is now on the back burner, and Vivek, considered a front-runner until recently, Premsagar Rao’s recent indirect attacks on the Chennur MLA, have prompted a cold war between the two. Both have been at pains to explain just how much they have served the party amidst the new-found uncertainty over additional Cabinet picks by the Chief Minister.

Hard work for Naidu’s pat

There is nothing quite like bending the back to get some work done, especially if it can result in a pat on the back from the Chief Minister. And doing precisely this has been AP’s water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu who recently donned the role of a mason for construction of a pedestal for a Dr B.R. Ambedkar statue in Palacole in West Godavari district. Ramanaidu joined the workers in centring works, and even cut iron rods to set up scaffolding for the pedestal, laying the cement-concrete slab and finally ended the job by garlanding the statue on April 14. Ramanaidu had previously received some pats on his back from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for monitoring relief work after the Budameru Vagu breached.

Past catches up with Veerraju

Expecting a reward for hard work is all but natural but in politics things apparently work differently. This is the piquant situation that former AP BJP president Somu Veerraju finds himself in. Now MLC, Veerraju, at a recent meeting in Rajamahendravaram, said that party cadres want to see him as a minister. He recalled how in 2014, he gave up on a MLA ticket from Rajamahendravaram and told Chandrababu Naidu that he (Veerraju) had to ensure victory for allied candidates from three constituencies and that would mean him not contesting and focusing on the greater good. He went on to say that had he contested he would have won, and that he told Naidu that then he would have to be made a minister. But that was then. Now, the long-nursed ambition of becoming a minister appears to be back, but his past history of pilloring Naidu when Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was in power, may prove the proverbial slip between the cup, and the lip.

Anitha lets bygones be bygones

Then and now. Times change and so do circumstances and AP’s home minister Vangalapudi Anitha has emerged as a perfect example of this. Anitha, when in the Opposition, was known for declaring that cops who arrest her would face the consequences later. Now that she heads the police department, things appear to have changed as demonstrated at an event in Tuni where she felicitated the constable who arrested her in the past, and served her notices during her time in the Opposition. She praised the constable for performing her duty, and declared that she bore no grudges, and urged the police to continue fulfilling their responsibilities with integrity.

MLA’s cement dreams may turn to (fly) ash

There are ways to cement a future but demanding concrete outcomes can be fraught with problems for all sides as appears to be happening at a cement plant in Yerraguntla in YSR Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. An apparent dispute involving an MLA over who gets the contract works in the plant has resulted in a blockade of the plant with demands that his followers get the contracts for fly-ash and limestone transport from and to the plant. Similar strong arm acts by the MLA and his followers were earlier taken to the notice of the Chief Minister who warned the legislator to refrain from such activities. How this latest episode turns out remains to be seen with cops, for now, apparently in a watch and wait mode as a ruling party MLA is reportedly involved in what is happening on the otherwise dusty roads leading to the cement plant.

C.M. Ramesh dumps a sweet story

Election promises turning into bitter pills for the voters appear to have come true for sugarcane farmers of Anakapalle who were promised by their now MP, C.M. Ramesh, during the election campaign, that he would secure `200 crore from the Central government to revive defunct sugar mills, a promise that resonated deeply with the community. But with nothing moving on this front, the people are turning increasingly unhappy and complain that their MP no longer even wants to listen to their woes, and is now apparently focused on issues related to a steel plant owned by a very large industrial group.

At TTD, looking for divine intervention

Can divine intervention help two individuals overcome apparent differences between them? If there was any such hope, at least it does not seem to be working in the case of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s chairman B.R. Naidu, and executive officer J. Syamala Rao. Following allegations over deaths of cows in the TTD’s goshala, the two held separate media conferences over two days, targeting former TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy’s comments on the issue. The not-joining-hands-during-a-crisis is not new for the two running the TTD. Back in January after the stampede death of six devotees, the two blamed one another at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Though Naidu had made it clear that there was no place for egos in the Lord’s work, the message did not appear to have sunk in yet.

Softening up a finance chief, AP style

Dr Arvind Panagariya, chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, is no stranger to politicians and politics, but his recent visit to Vijayawada along with his team, was a first for him. The AP government, which organised a grand welcome for Panagariya and his team, had also had him figure prominently in banners and cutouts erected in the city for the meeting with the Finance Commission. Pictures do speak louder than words of course, but now all eyes are on the commission on what it would recommend for the state, given that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, in his typical style, organised a photo exhibition, and made a detailed PowerPoint and video presentations highlighting the state’s funding requirements.

Contributions from Md Ilyas, Narender Pulloor, Laxmi Pranathi, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Puli Sharath Kumar, P.V. Prasad, Avinash P. Subramanyam, Sampat G. Samritan, Balu Pulipaka, Vadrevu Srinivas, Pillalamarri Srinivas, Aruna.