NETA NATTER | Revanth Sets Agenda, Others Follow

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy seems to have turned Telangana politics into a game of "follow the leader" - and he's setting the pace. With his bold call for a three-day agitation in Delhi from August 5 to 7, demanding that the Centre clear the 42 per cent BC reservation bills passed by the state Assembly, the political spectrum has suddenly discovered a common cause: Backward Class quotas. In a rare twist, arch-rivals are now walking a parallel path. The BRS, usually at loggerheads with the Congress, quickly announced a public meeting in Karimnagar on August 8 - also on BC quotas. The BJP, not wanting to miss the political bus, jumped in with a "maha dharna" at Indira Park on Sunday, echoing the same demand. What began as a state-level agitation is now being pushed by Revanth onto the national stage. He's inviting all political parties to his Jantar Mantar protest on August 6, aiming to turn the BC quota into a national agenda - and forcing his opponents to play catch-up.

Copter And The Wait For Uttam

Taking a helicopter ride with irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy is turning into an exercise in patience- and frustration - for Telangana officials and ministers alike. While the copter is ready to take off as scheduled, Uttam's sense of time seems to run on an entirely different clock. Though his office routinely instructs everyone to assemble at Begumpet airport by 9 am, the minister, a former IAF official, rarely shows up before 10. The latest episode played out during a scheduled trip to the Nagarjunasagar dam to release water for the first time this season. Ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Adluri Laxman Kumar reported punctually at 9 am. But as the clock ticked and Uttam didn't appear, Komatireddy lost his cool. After waiting for over an hour, a visibly irritated Komatireddy stormed out, abruptly cancelling his visit. When Uttam finally landed - fashionably late - he attempted damage control by calling Komatireddy. But the damage was done; the latter had switched off his phone. Apparently, in this political version of 'Catch Me If You Can,' the helicopter is always ready - but Uttam rarely is.

A 'ghost' That Puts Out Healthy Stories

This is not quite the story of Casper, the friendly comic book ghost many grew up with. There appears to be one now stalking the health department, which is otherwise short-staffed and is plagued, well, with many problems. Of late, a Good Samaritan 'ghost' has begun injecting information about all the good things about the government into media circles, apparently in the hope that the message will get spread that all is well with the department that is otherwise mostly on life support. The pill may be a bitter one to swallow, but wisps of gossip doing the rounds are that this friendly apparition is that of the department's top gun, assuming the shape of a senior department official.

Quickfire NRR Spares Not Even A Pal

N. Ramchander Rao, the new BJP chief for Telangana, is surely not one at a loss of words, and is quickly establishing himself as one capable of quick repartee. Years of experience as a lawyer, of course, helps, but Rao has been demonstrating that he can turn things on a dime, and making it clear that there is a new leading man in town. All it took the other day was a question whether Rao watched the movie 'Hari Hara Veera Mallu' starring AP Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. With a twinkle in his eye, Rao's response that he was not really a card-carrying movie buff, and went on to say that Pawan's new movie was no nail-biting Dev Anand classic or a suspense-thriller and that he might well give the film a miss unless 'Veera Mallu' suddenly starts singing under a tree, or solving mysteries wearing a fedora. Movie fan or not, Rao surely is showing he is well-equipped to take on any question. Pretty daring too, as Pawan is the BJP's friend in AP.

Bankers Get A Poser On Paperwork

"Shuruvaath mein bahut dikkat hui!" A simple statement by an elderly gentleman who was to be a star beneficiary example of one of many government schemes at the recent State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) event was enough to send bankers on the dais into an unexpected but brief fit of concern about the whole event going off the rails. The bankers, presenting their successes on how thousands benefited from government schemes and how banks ensured this, invited the elderly man to talk about his experience. His first sentence, it was pretty hard to start with, raised eyebrows on the dais, but the rest of the gathering burst into laughter. The message was that while schemes may work, the paperwork can be tough and that bankers can tie one up in knots during the process, and this ended up as the lesson for the day for the bankers.

Story of the missing Kiran Kumar Reddy

It is a legacy no politician really wants and former chief minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who held the post of the last CM of unified Andhra Pradesh and presided over the bifurcation of the then state, has more or less disappeared from the public eye. After his climb to the top and the then AP's division, a miffed Kiran Kumar Reddy launched the United Andhra Party, which failed to make a dent anywhere and he soon found his way back into the Congress. With no doors opening there, KKR wandered into the BJP, but here too, he has been put to the pasture. KKR is now reportedly mulling retiring from politics, and the question doing the rounds among his well-wishers is whether his presence in public life will be missed, given that he spent 11 years in political wilderness.

Desam MP Does A Bit of Crystal Gazing

The Telugu Desam MP from Nellore and noted industrialist Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy has clarity that borders on the clearest of crystals on what he wants to do next. Citing politically motivated allegations, the king of quartz mining is apparently crushed by allegations, in his own words, that make it appear like "shipped off the Himalayas, instead of "a pinch of a quartz mountain." Reddy, popular as VPR, is now said to be mulling focusing more on philanthropy, continuing his past practice of building temples and pipelines. His critics are not very convinced and are wondering if this refocusing of attention away from quartz, but VPR is quite firm that this is no 'miner' decision and that he has had enough. The future of this tale may well lie in a crystal ball that his rivals are trying to dig out.

Tigers bring all politicos together

Tigers are all the rage among politicians from the erstwhile Adilabad district, thanks to GO 49 declaring the forest areas in KB Asifabad district, leading from Maharashtra to Kawal tiger reserve, as a conservation reserve by the Telangana government. And roaring their opposition and even threatening to quit as MLAs if the GO, currently placed in abeyance, is implemented are Congress' Khanapur MLA Vedma Bojju, and BJP's Sirpur (T) MLA Palvai Harish Babu, and Congress' MLC Dande Vittal. With local body elections on the horizon, politicians across party lines appear to have suddenly decided that they all wear the same stripes when it comes to seeking votes.

'Dam'ning report raises a barrage of questions

Much water has flown down the Godavari river since the Kaleshwaram project barrages developed serious problems, and now all eyes are on who the Justice P.C. Ghose commission report has named as responsible for the barrages' plight. That will, of course, be known once the government makes the report public, but off the hook, or on it. A couple of hundred folks including bureaucrats, engineers and from companies that built the barrages are currently on tenterhooks, stretched to their limit in some cases, over what the future portends for them. Fear of a fall out is often said to be worse than reality, but in this case, many reputations are expected to crumble, setting the stage for some intense political battles in the days to come.

Contributions from Pathri Rajasekhar, Shrimansi Kaushik, Neeraj Kumar, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Avinash P. Subramanyam, Balu Pulipaka, Pillalamarri Srinivas