Political Diary

Congress party on Thursday announced names of the nine Congress candidates for the Local Authorities Constituencies of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. An APCC press release said that party president Sonia Gandhi has approved the candidature of the nine candidates, who were also given the B forms.

The candidates are: Konda Muralidhar Rao (Warangal), Pothula Rama Rao (Prakasam), Datla Venkata Suryanarayana Raju (Visakhapatnam), Nethi Vidyasagar (Nalgonda), V. Bhoopal Reddy (Medak), R.Venkatarama Reddy (Nizamabad), Taniparthi Bhanu Prasada Rao (Karimnagar), S. Jagadeeshwara Reddy (Mahabubnagar) and Katireddy Laxma Reddy (Khammam).

Despite missing the early morning flight to Visakhapatnam and hence the muhurtam, Telugu Desam’s star campaigner Jr NTR went all out to impress upon people that the ideologies followed by the TD today are same as the ones that the party had when it was founded by his grandfather N.T. Rama Rao.He was to launch the TD campaign at 10.36 am after performing a special puja at the Swetcha Devi temple. However, Jr NTR missed the flight and reached Visakhapatnam only at 11.20 am, and could reach the venue only by 1.15 pm.

The TD parliamentary party leader, Mr K. Yerrannaidu, had some anxious moments because the time between 1.30 pm and 3 pm was considered inauspicious.Frustated with the delay in the star’s arrival, some unidentified people hurled stones at Jr NTR’s campaign vehicle at Nuvvularevu. However, Jr NTR took it all in his stride.Dressed in khaki just like NTR who launched his political campaign at Itchapuram in 1982, the actor addressed several meetings at Itchapuram and Kanchili.

The Telugu Desam Party has announced its intentions to increase the quantum of money it promised to pay under the cash transfer scheme to poor and middle class families as and when required.TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu said other political parties were worried over the promise which proved yet again that the TDP was the only party that worked for the all round development of women. He was addressing a meeting organised by NTR Memorial Trust to felicitate 16 women who carved a niche for themselves in society in connection with the International Women’s Day on Sunday.

Those felicitated included yesteryear actresses Jamuna and Rama Prabha, singer Jamuna Rani, Telugu University Vice-Chancellor A. Manjulatha, classical dance exponent Ananda Sankar, senior lawyer J. Chamanti, writer Ananta Lakshmi, HCU professor Sharat Jyotsna Rani and TANA former president Mutyala Padmasri.Recalling the efforts made by the previous TDP government for women empowerment, Mr. Naidu said the party was fighting for introduction of 33 per cent reservation for women since more than a decade. But, there was no initiative in this direction forthcoming from the Congress despite its president Sonia Gandhi being a woman.

The ruling Congress will return to power with 155-169 Assembly seats, according to a survey released on Sunday. This places the party comfortably above the half-way mark of 148 seats in the Assembly. The Telugu Desam-led Mahakutami will get between 92-110 seats.The Praja Rajyam of Chiranjeevi would get 30-35 seats and others would mop up 7-9 seats, according to the survey conducted by the news channel NTV in association with Nielsen ORC Marg Ltd.The survey, conducted in February, covered 88,146 respondents at about 300 voters from each constituency. In the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress will get 23-27 seats out of 42 in the state, according to the survey. The Mahakutami will 14-16 seats and the Praja Rajyam, 1-2 seats.

The Left parties are unhappy about the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) elbowing others for its space in the Mahakutami.The CPI(M) state secretary, Mr B.V. Raghavulu, on Monday indicated that the seat-sharing with the MRPS was not a priority on the agenda. “Let the issue of seat-sharing among the existing partners be settled first. We can talk of the MRPS later,” he said while reacting to questions on how many seats the MRPS would get. Party sources said the Left was kept in the dark about the entry of the MRPS. They were of the view that the TRS was trying to take advantage of the sizeable Madiga vote in Telangana region by roping in Mr Krishna Madiga.

The state Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a setback on Monday when the former Union minister and actor, Mr U.V. Krishnam Raju, decided to join the Congress.The “Kshatriya lobby” from Godavari districts played a key role in making Mr Raju switch his loyalties.Mr Raju is likely to be fielded from the Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

According to sources, Mr Raju had decided to join the Congress after getting a clear cut assurance from the party leadership that he would be fielded from Narsapuram.The move could embarrass the Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi, who is planning to contest from Narsapuram Assembly segment.
Mr Raju had started his career by joining the Congress in 1991. He contested unsuccessfully from Narsapuram constituency and joined the BJP.

Film actor and politician Nandamuri Balakrishna has alleged that the law and order situation deteriorated in the State and there was no protection for women during Congress party’s rule.The recent acid attacks on college going girls and attacks on women is a failure of the government in controlling the anti-social elements in the State, he said. Addressing the gathering in a road show at Bus Stand Centre here on Monday, the actor said the increase in terrorist violence, brutal attacks on women and the political killings was creating panic among the people and there was no security for women during Congress regime.
Threat

If Congress is voted to power again the anti-social elements would resort to violence on the roads openly and there is a threat to the lives of common public, he cautioned and asked the voters to dethrone the Congress party in the coming elections. The Telugu Desam government has successfully suppressed the terrorist activities in the State, he remembered.Stating that there would be no lands for farmers to plough in future, Mr. Balakrishna said if the monsoon was good why the farmers suicides are continuing in the State?

He alleged that about 6,000 farmers ended their lives in Andhra Pradesh in the last five years and blamed the Congress government for the pathetic situation.“In the name of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Congress government forcibly took valuable lands from the poor farmers and was helping the industrialists and landlords to increase their properties. Though some thousands of acres of land was acquired in the State not even one SEZ was set up so far,” he alleged.

The film actor praised former Chief Minister and TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu for developing Information Technology which provided employment to some thousands of people and increased the State’s economy.“The time has come to teach a lesson to the corrupt Congress. Please vote for ‘Maha Kutami’ in the elections and bring TDP into power again,” he urged the voters.