Political Diary

Chief Minister YS. Rajashekar Reddy during his campaigning in Medak District, advised the people that, ‘There are so many film stars who are conducting Morning, Noon, Evening, and Second shows for you all. Let us enjoy their free shows, but vote for Congress party only. However, do not let your self being cheated with false promises made by Jr. NTR and Balakrishna

Balakrishna and Jr.NTR are conducting those free shows on behalf of Chandrababu Naidu, who is hiding himself in his party office, as people are not ready to believe his words any more. I like to know whether they both can give us assurance of implementing the promises made by them. I think they simply disappears from the scene once, the elections are over. They both have their own business of acting in the films. They need not to do it in the public now.

When we talk about PRP and his President Chiranjeevi , who came to us with Social Justice Offer, we have to know first how much money did he spent from his hard earnings to his native village Mogaltur and to East Godavari District? He earned crores of Rupees in the film industry. But, he never spent a single N.P. for the development of his native place. How can we believe that he will work for the uplift of downtrodden? All these filmy people are trying to fool us. Do not allow them to do so,’ says YS.Rajashekar Reddy.

The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi and the Lok Satta party of former bureaucrat Jaiprakash Narayan got a major relief on Friday following the Supreme Court fiat to the Election Commission to allot them common election symbols.

Chiranjeevi thanked the apex court for its order, directing the poll panel to allot “rail engine” as the symbol for the PRP.

“We had full faith in judiciary and were sure of getting justice,” Chiranjeevi told reporters while campaigning in West Goadavari district in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The Supreme Court Friday directed the Election Commission to accommodate the demand of three registered but unrecognised political parties, including Tamil star Vijaykanth’s DMDK, for common symbol in their states.

Chiranjeevi’s party had approached the court after the Election Commission rejected its demand to allot “rail engine” as the common symbol on the ground that only recognised national and state-level parties were entitled to have a fixed and common symbol.

The court order has come as a major relief to PRP, which was worried about its performance in the absence of a common symbol.

Lok Satta president Jaiprakash Narayan hailed the Supreme Court order. “The (whistle) symbol signifies the awakening we are trying to create among people,” he said.

Nearly 20 per cent of the sitting MLAs and almost 17 per cent of the sitting MPs in the state face criminal charges including murder, attempt to murder, rioting and poll violence-related offences.
Armed with the details obtained from the police under the RTI Act, the National Election Watch (NEW) on Friday released a list of sitting MLAs and MPs, who face criminal charges. The public representatives are from all political parties.

Demanding resignation of Andhra chief minister for "failing" to give backward classes their due, Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi on Sunday accused Y S Rajasekhara Reddy of betraying the BC by allotting a meagre 66 assembly seats to them for the ensuing elections. Addressing a press conference at PRP headquarters here, Chiranjeevi said, "I am surprised by the number of seats the Congress allotted to the BCs. It only proved that the ruling party’s tall talk on social justice was a farce."

Reminding the chief minister of the unanimous resolution passed in the assembly in support of 33 per cent reservation for BCs, he wondered why the Congress failed to implement it. Chiranjeevi announced that his party would give more than 100 assembly seats (one-third) to the BCs. "We will strictly go by our philosophy of social justice while announcing our candidates for the electoral battle," he said. He said that the party would announce its first list of candidates in the next 48 hours.

The PRP chief said he was under "tremendous pressure" to contest from a constituency in his native West Godavari district apart from his first choice of Tirupati. He said if rules permit, he will contesting from Nalgonda. Admitting that securing a common election symbol was a difficult task, the PRP chief said they were optimistic of a favourable response from the Supreme Court. Asked if there was a likelihood of PRP resuming talks with TRS with reports doing rounds that the latter might pull out of the Grand Alliance, Chiranjeevi said the time for talks was already over.

The Mahakutami of the Telugu Des-am, the TRS and the Left parties finally reached an accord on seat sharing on Tuesday, but not before the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) left everyone on tenterhooks by threatening to walk out of the coalition. After some hurried dipl-omacy by the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Nai-du, the TRS agreed to a share of 48 Assembly seats out of 119 seats in the Telangana region and nine Lok Sabha seats out of 17. The CPI(M) and the CPI will contest 16 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats each.

The TRS will contest from Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Nizamabad, Warangal, Medak, Adilabad, Nagarkurnool, Malkajgiri and Secunderabad Lok Sabha seats. Of the total 294 Assembly seats in the state, the TD would contest from 214 assembly seats. It will also field candidates from 29 Lok Sabha seats. The TRS may have to allot three seats to the Majlis Bachao Tehreek in the Old City leaving the party with 45 Assembly seats. There could be some changes before a formal announcement on Wednesday.

There were tense moments in the Mahakutami camp on Monday night and Tuesday after Mr Rao threatened to quit the alliance complaining that his party was not being given the rightful share. The TRS also made the threat public through selective leaks to the media and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao called a press meet at 2.30 pm to make an ‘important announcement’. However, Mr Naidu sent a close confidante, Mr C.M. Ramesh, as emissary to the TRS president to pacify him. Following this, the press meet was cancelled and TRS leaders went to Mr Naidu’s residence. Though Mr Rao had the last laugh, Mr Naidu and other party leaders are upset at his behaviour.

Meanwhile, Asifabad MLA, Sridevi, is upset over Bellampally segment being given to the Left parties. Sources said she is planning to quit the party. Similarly, senior TD leader, E. Dayakar Rao, is also upset since Palakurti seat, from which he wanted to contest, has been allotted to the TRS.

Causing disappointment to several aspirants and sitting MLAs in the Congress and the Telugu Desam, who were denied tickets for the elections, the Praja Rajyam chief, Chiranjeevi, on Tuesday made it clear that he would not give Assembly tickets to new entrants into his party henceforth. “We will not accommodate newcomers in the party’s candidates’ list for the ensuing polls. If we allot tickets to new entrants from other parties, leaders, who have been with the party since its inception, will be deprived. So, we have decided not to give tickets to those leaders, who join the party henceforth, whether it is Congress minister Mr G. Surya Rao or somebody else,” he said.

He said that the PR’s first list of candidates and manifesto would be released on Wednesday. Former MP from the BJP and veteran actor, Mr U.V. Krishnam Raju, on Tuesday joined the PR in the presence of Chiranjeevi. Mr Raju is likely to be fielded from the Narsapur LS seat. Speaking on this occasion, the PR chief welcomed Mr Raju, who hails from his village, Mogalturu, in West Godavari district, to the party.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, ruled out any chance of the Telugu Desam coming back to power saying the promises made by the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, were unrealistic.
Dr Reddy was talking at a press meet held at the secretariat on Tuesday. Comparing the Congress manifesto with the TD’s poll promises, Dr Reddy pointed out that his party only promised things that can be implemented. “But Mr Naidu is promising everything to woo the people to get back to power,” said Dr Reddy.

The Chief Minister defended the Congress’s stand of not announcing populist schemes saying that the existing schemes are benefiting everyone in the state. Parrying a question about his retirement from active politics, Dr Reddy said he was never after posts. “But after realising the impact that our policies have had on the people, we request them to give us a second term to do more good for them,” he said.

Former Union Minister U.V. Krishnam Raju on Tuesday joined the Praja Rajyam (PR) in the presence of party president K. Chiranjeevi. “I have realised that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot improve the lot of the poor and the downtrodden sections of people in Andhra Pradesh and I have decided to work with the Praja Rajyam with the firm belief that Mr. Chiranjeevi is serious about helping people and working for their welfare,” he said.

The Praja Rajyam president welcomed the former BJP leader and said: “His entry strengthens my hands and we will show the world how two people who were together in ‘reel’ life, can also join hands and work for people in ‘real’ life too.” When asked if Mr. Raju’s entry construed taking the Praja Rajyam a step closer to the BJP, Mr. Chiranjeevi said there was no ‘enmity’ per se with the BJP. “It is only that our thoughts and policies do not match perfectly.”
Release of list

It is aimed at giving the blind voter dignity and secrecy. For the first time, Braille-facilitated electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being introduced on a large scale for the 15th Lok Sabha polls. ’A total of 1.05 million EVMs are being used, of which 450,000 are Braille-enabled. These EVMs are spread across the country in many states,’ an Election Commission official told IANS. He said earlier the rule was that one person would accompany the blind voter. ’Now, the blind persons can cast their vote without any help.’ India is estimated to be home to at least 15 million blind people.

The facilities provided by the poll panel have not come easily. The Election Commission was petitioned by activists and NGOs working in the disability sector to create the necessary infrastructure for disabled people, including the sizeable blind population. Fighting for this cause was the Delhi-based Disability Rights Group, which approached the Supreme Court and got a favourable ruling in 2004. So the first time the Election Commission used Braille-facilitated EVMs was in a by-election in Andhra Pradesh in 2004, soon after the apex court ruling.

’After it proved successful, we used it subsequently and expanded it whenever there were elections in different states,’ the official said. But this is the very first time that Braille-enabled machines will be used on such a large scale in parliamentary polls. According to Satbir Silas Bedi, Delhi’s chief electoral officer, the assembly elections held last year in the national capital had the Braille facility on EVMs.

’The idea behind this move was that the blind voter would be guaranteed dignity and secrecy of his vote,’ Bedi told IANS. Before the introduction of these EVMs, which have a strip of paper encoding the options in Braille stuck on it, the blind voter used to be accompanied by an officer who would help him cast his vote, Bedi said. Welcoming the step, George Abraham, who runs the NGO Score Foundation that works for the blind, said: ’It’s a wonderful initiative. It will enable the visually impaired to not only exercise their rights but also educate others.’

’I want more and more blind people to come forward and vote and have their say,’ said 50-year-old Abraham, who will be voting this time after a long gap as he has finally got his voter identity card after a few hiccups. However, he pointed out, there are a large number of blind people who do not know Braille. ’There are many visually impaired who don’t know Braille. So I hope they will be allowed to take their relatives along when they are casting their vote.’ The Election Commission official also said they would continue to allow blind people to take along a person to assist them to vote.

Abraham suggested that the poll panel could have conducted a survey to find out how many blind people are there in a constituency. ’They could have assessed the situation easily. The survey would have shown them which constituency needs such Braille-enabled EVMs and which do not.’ Abraham said as compared to the 2007 assembly elections, this time many NGOs are actively working to promote Braille-enabled EVMs among blind people.

’In the US, the voting machine also has a talking device that gives out all the information at the press of a button. Here too such a step can be taken so that everyone can understand. Braille has limited access. But voice could include more people. Maybe, the (Election) Commission can decide on that in future.’