(source-saakshi)
Monday, March 1, 2010
CM dreams behind Botsas two-state cry - Plays Caste Card To Get Gaddi
Hyderabad: For those wondering why Botsa Satyanarayana dropped a bombshell demanding division of Andhra Pradesh,the reason has much to do with caste politics and his ambition to be CM.In this instance its the Kapu card. As an aspirant community, its power plans came to a naught in last polls as Chiranj-eevi flopped. Though the actors Prajarajyam got 17 per cent votes, it did not translate into seats. As politicians see it,politics in state continues to be in the hands of Reddys and Kammas.And Botsa seems to be making a pitch to break this grip.It is deliberate.He has chosen a time when the T-agitation is waning after the setting up of the Srikrishna committee, said a political analyst who has observed Botsa for long. But Botsa has dished out a simplistic explanation to veil his real intentions: Two states would pave the road for allround development of Telugus;two CMs would bring more funds and aspirations of people of both regions would be fulfilled. But this argument is seen as blasphemous by leaders from Rayalaseema-Circar areas.Students from Andhra University in Vizag immediately cried foul and leaders from Srikakulam to Kadapa,irrespective of their party affiliations,have questioned his continuance in the cabinet.Some sections have even mooted social boycott of Botsa,who is the panchayati raj minister.
Analysts close to Botsa,however,argue that the strong reactions are due to his social background.The Samaikyandhra movement is led by leaders from the upper castes who are well entrenched in politics and business.While the movement in Rayalaseema is led by Reddys,the visible leaders in Coastal Andhra are Kammas. But Botsa, a product of post-liberalization politics, is not willing to allow his caste status of Turpu Kapu to come in the way of his ambitions. His strength can be gauged from his indispensability to the late YSR. In terms of political influence, there is no comparable backward caste leader in the state, asserted a political analyst,pointing to his grip on his native Vizianagaram.He forced the party high command to give the Congress LS ticket to his wife Botsa Jhansi.He forced YSR to give an assembly ticket to his brother as well.And the zilla parishad chairman is also from his family, he said.So strong is his influence that YSR did not remove him from the cabinet after the Volkswagen controversy when Botsa was the industry minister.After YSRs death,Botsa openly expressed his ambition to become CM. Chiranjeevis failure has rekindled Botsas ambition to become the CM as representative of Kapus.Chiranjeevi has asserted that he stands for an integrated AP but his feeble voice has not been audible in the united movement led by Congress and TDP.
If Andhra state is formed,Kapus would become the single largest community with Balijas of Rayalaseema.This would add to Botsas chances as CM.Kapus need a strong leader at this juncture when AP is at a crossroad, said a Congress leader.Given the influence of Kammas and Reddys,he cannot expect to be AP CM.So he is betting for a separate Andhra state, the leader said.If the communitys voice is not raised now,they can never claim the CM post if the state divided.So Botsa has become active, the Congress leader pointed out.
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PLANS AGITATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN T - JAC to launch 10-day T bus yatra from Mar 9
Hyderabad: The Telangana JAC proposes to launch a 10-day bus yatra from March 9 which would serve twin purpose,one to campaign for the TRS MLAs who had resigned from the assembly protesting against delay in bifurcation of the state and to educate the people of Telangana about the need for bifurcation. JAC convener M Kodandaram told newsmen on Sunday that the 10-day bus yatra will kickstart from Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district.All JAC members from Telangana organisations and MLAs including TRS leaders,who resigned from assembly will take part in the yatra. During the bus yatra,the JAC leaders will target the Congress party leaders from the region who they claim had cheated the people by backtracking on resignations.They will also explain why the JAC was opposed to the Srikrishna committee.The JAC feels that the committee constituted by Centre cannot solve the contentious Telangana issue,he said. Stating that the yatra will cover 10 Telangana districts,Kodandaram said the yatra is being organised as part of intensifying agitation against MLAs who did not resign from the assembly.The JAC had already given a call to the people to boycott MLAs and not to allow them to enter their constituencies.He said the ministers and MLAs have already stopped moving in their constituencies fearing backlash from people.The JAC leader said the dharnas organised by district JAC leaders will be intensified from Monday onwards and protracted agitational programmes will be organised in all Telangana villages from next week.
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(SOURCE-TOI)
Analysts close to Botsa,however,argue that the strong reactions are due to his social background.The Samaikyandhra movement is led by leaders from the upper castes who are well entrenched in politics and business.While the movement in Rayalaseema is led by Reddys,the visible leaders in Coastal Andhra are Kammas. But Botsa, a product of post-liberalization politics, is not willing to allow his caste status of Turpu Kapu to come in the way of his ambitions. His strength can be gauged from his indispensability to the late YSR. In terms of political influence, there is no comparable backward caste leader in the state, asserted a political analyst,pointing to his grip on his native Vizianagaram.He forced the party high command to give the Congress LS ticket to his wife Botsa Jhansi.He forced YSR to give an assembly ticket to his brother as well.And the zilla parishad chairman is also from his family, he said.So strong is his influence that YSR did not remove him from the cabinet after the Volkswagen controversy when Botsa was the industry minister.After YSRs death,Botsa openly expressed his ambition to become CM. Chiranjeevis failure has rekindled Botsas ambition to become the CM as representative of Kapus.Chiranjeevi has asserted that he stands for an integrated AP but his feeble voice has not been audible in the united movement led by Congress and TDP.
If Andhra state is formed,Kapus would become the single largest community with Balijas of Rayalaseema.This would add to Botsas chances as CM.Kapus need a strong leader at this juncture when AP is at a crossroad, said a Congress leader.Given the influence of Kammas and Reddys,he cannot expect to be AP CM.So he is betting for a separate Andhra state, the leader said.If the communitys voice is not raised now,they can never claim the CM post if the state divided.So Botsa has become active, the Congress leader pointed out.
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PLANS AGITATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN T - JAC to launch 10-day T bus yatra from Mar 9
Hyderabad: The Telangana JAC proposes to launch a 10-day bus yatra from March 9 which would serve twin purpose,one to campaign for the TRS MLAs who had resigned from the assembly protesting against delay in bifurcation of the state and to educate the people of Telangana about the need for bifurcation. JAC convener M Kodandaram told newsmen on Sunday that the 10-day bus yatra will kickstart from Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district.All JAC members from Telangana organisations and MLAs including TRS leaders,who resigned from assembly will take part in the yatra. During the bus yatra,the JAC leaders will target the Congress party leaders from the region who they claim had cheated the people by backtracking on resignations.They will also explain why the JAC was opposed to the Srikrishna committee.The JAC feels that the committee constituted by Centre cannot solve the contentious Telangana issue,he said. Stating that the yatra will cover 10 Telangana districts,Kodandaram said the yatra is being organised as part of intensifying agitation against MLAs who did not resign from the assembly.The JAC had already given a call to the people to boycott MLAs and not to allow them to enter their constituencies.He said the ministers and MLAs have already stopped moving in their constituencies fearing backlash from people.The JAC leader said the dharnas organised by district JAC leaders will be intensified from Monday onwards and protracted agitational programmes will be organised in all Telangana villages from next week.
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(SOURCE-TOI)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
T-PANEL UNDER BOYCOTT THREAT
The Justice B N Srikrishna Committee seems to be running into problems even before it could hold its first sitting with the BJP announcing on Saturday that the committee had no legality and that the national party would boycott it. Addressing the media here,senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said the setting up of the committee was against the spirit of the Centres December 9 announcement where it said it would initiate the process of creating aseparate Telangana state. It is a waste of public money and time. Also, it is not clear whether the UPA government will accept the recommendations of committee. We believe that this panel will meet the same fate as that of the Pranab Mukherjee committee,which was also formed for taking the views of various political parties on the T issue, Naidu said.Of the eight recognised political parties that have been invited to present their views to the Srikrishna committee,the BJP is the first to boycott it.Of the remaining,the TRS too is likely to boycott though it is still to formally announce its decision,while the Congress and TDP are likely to project both points of view.
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T panel can do little justice
Hyderabad: The MIM is expected to declare its stand on the Justice B N Srinkrishna committee in the second week of March. With BJP to boycott the panel and both Congress and TDP likely to project both anti and pro Telangana viewpoints,that leaves only the minor parties like CPM,CPI and PRP.In such circumstances,what justice can the committee do to the purpose it was set up for, wondered a leader.
Meanwhile,panel members are slated to come to Hyderabad on March 4 on a two-day visit.It will be an introductory one during which the committee members will interact with all the registered parties in the two days, member secretary V K Duggal told TOI from New Delhi. When asked about the decision of the BJP to boycott the panel,Duggal said: There is very little we can to when a party decides to distance itself from the committee, he said. The commission will urge parties to send their views before March 20,the deadline given to the eight political parties.
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(SOURE-TOI)
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T panel can do little justice
Hyderabad: The MIM is expected to declare its stand on the Justice B N Srinkrishna committee in the second week of March. With BJP to boycott the panel and both Congress and TDP likely to project both anti and pro Telangana viewpoints,that leaves only the minor parties like CPM,CPI and PRP.In such circumstances,what justice can the committee do to the purpose it was set up for, wondered a leader.
Meanwhile,panel members are slated to come to Hyderabad on March 4 on a two-day visit.It will be an introductory one during which the committee members will interact with all the registered parties in the two days, member secretary V K Duggal told TOI from New Delhi. When asked about the decision of the BJP to boycott the panel,Duggal said: There is very little we can to when a party decides to distance itself from the committee, he said. The commission will urge parties to send their views before March 20,the deadline given to the eight political parties.
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(SOURE-TOI)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Game up for Congress,TDP -Srikrishna Panel Tells Parties To Spell Out Their Telangana Stance
Hyderabad: The game may be up for the Congress,TDP and MIM on the Telangana issue following Justice B N Srikrishnas assertion earlier in the day in New Delhi that all eight political parties should nominate representatives to spell out their official stances on the contentious issue. After a full meeting in the national capital on Thursday,the chairman of the committee constituted to look into the political situation in Andhra Pradesh following the separate state agitation,said: We have sought the opinion of eight recognised political parties in the state.Every party should officially nominate a person who will spell out the official stand of that party on the division of the state. Till now,the Congress and TDP were planning to have leaders from both the regions depose before the committee and submit their respective views and leave it to the panel to make its conclusions.Many are of the view that this will force the Congress,which has been evasive on the Telangana issue for the past six years apart from harping on the second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC),and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu,who has clammed up on the separate state issue since December 9 last year,to come clean with their stances, said a TRS leader.
PCC president D Srinivas said although the Srikrishna committee has written a letter to me,I will leave it to the Congress high command to spell out the partys stand on the issue.The TDP leaders from both the regions too held a meeting on Thursday evening to discuss what should be the official stance of the party. While TRS,BJP and CPI are clearly for the creation of Telangana,PRP and CPM are for united Andhra.The Congress,TDP and MIM are the only three parties who have not spelt out their stances till now.While the ruling party and TDP have been hunting with the hound and running with the hare,the MIM has maintained a stoic silence on the issue so far. But many are of the opinion that these three parties will still get away without being cornered.The Congress will officially take a stance that in principle,it has no opposition to creation of Telangana provided there is an overwhelming consensus. It will then be left to the committee to draw its conclusions, said a party leader.The state unit of the party is slated to hold a brainstorming session on the stance it has to take the coming Sunday. The TDP too is planning to tell the committee that there is a vertical split on the T issue within the party and that both the groups will give their views to the panel.It is the committee that should make the final call on whether the state should be divided or not, said a TDP leader. But for now,there is a sense of uneasiness in the two major parties.While the state unit of the Congress is hoping that the high command will take the stand,the TDP is still to work out its strategy.
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TRS takes U-turn,to depose before Srikrishna panel
The TRS which has been opposing the Srikrishna committee decided on Thursday to appear before it and submit its views,documents and videos,etc,explaining why it is fighting for the Telangana statehood.
According to a senior TRS leader,KCR has asked state and district party leaders to prepare reports on the development in their areas and budgetary allocations made by the successive governments since 1956.Statistics on employment,water allocation for irrigation purposes and the details of livelihood source of the people in the region have already been gathered,according to him.Information gathered from districts will be compiled into a comprehensive report, he said. He said the video would be of one hour duration and would contain UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhis statement on Telangana during the election campaign in 2004 and 2009 polls,Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs comments in Parliament and President Abdul Kalams statement that the statehood issue was being considered by the Centre as was enshrined in the common minimum programme (CMP) besides the statements of other leaders on the issue.Other issues like backwardness of the region and the details of students who committed suicides would also be included in it.
KCR is of the opinion that TRS ideologue professor K Jayashankar and irrigation expert A Vidyasagar Rao would be the right persons to make strong arguments before the committee.Jayashankar told TOI that he was preparing a 50-page report explaining necessity of formation of Telangana state.Meanwhile, Telangana JAC convener M Kodandaram demanded that all political parties make their stand clear on Telangana before the committee. Addressing a press conference here,he said political parties should attend the meeting and express their views without fail. He said that the political party leaders should also make public the views they express on the contentious statehood issue before the committee.This will expose the double standards of some of the leaders, Kodandaram said.
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T-effect : Stress level peaks in OU
Students of Osmania University are struggling,and this time not with the lathi-charging police but with their own disturbed minds.With the campus turning into a T bastion,the average OU student has ended up as a nervous wreck.With the Telangana struggle on campus completing three months,many students are queuing up for psychological counselling sessions. Students are undergoing post-traumatic stress leading to insomnia (sleeplessness),behavioural changes and even suicidal tendency.And recording this disturbing trend on campus is 15-day-old Sahayam,a counselling centre started by psychology depart-ment of the university. Counsellors at Sahayam say that students are approaching them with varying problems,all related to the T agitation.In a recent case,a IInd year student of Geophysics department of OU had to be taken to a psychiatrist for treatment as he was troubled by the tension on campus.
The police presence on campus,exams getting postponed repeatedly and suicide attempts on the university premises are factors causing depression. Take for instance a PG student who sought psychiatric treatment as he was disturbed by T suicides.The student complained that he had trouble sleeping after he saw images of self-immolation on television.Adding to this trauma was his own worry about getting a job after completion of the course.
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(source-toi)
PCC president D Srinivas said although the Srikrishna committee has written a letter to me,I will leave it to the Congress high command to spell out the partys stand on the issue.The TDP leaders from both the regions too held a meeting on Thursday evening to discuss what should be the official stance of the party. While TRS,BJP and CPI are clearly for the creation of Telangana,PRP and CPM are for united Andhra.The Congress,TDP and MIM are the only three parties who have not spelt out their stances till now.While the ruling party and TDP have been hunting with the hound and running with the hare,the MIM has maintained a stoic silence on the issue so far. But many are of the opinion that these three parties will still get away without being cornered.The Congress will officially take a stance that in principle,it has no opposition to creation of Telangana provided there is an overwhelming consensus. It will then be left to the committee to draw its conclusions, said a party leader.The state unit of the party is slated to hold a brainstorming session on the stance it has to take the coming Sunday. The TDP too is planning to tell the committee that there is a vertical split on the T issue within the party and that both the groups will give their views to the panel.It is the committee that should make the final call on whether the state should be divided or not, said a TDP leader. But for now,there is a sense of uneasiness in the two major parties.While the state unit of the Congress is hoping that the high command will take the stand,the TDP is still to work out its strategy.
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TRS takes U-turn,to depose before Srikrishna panel
The TRS which has been opposing the Srikrishna committee decided on Thursday to appear before it and submit its views,documents and videos,etc,explaining why it is fighting for the Telangana statehood.
According to a senior TRS leader,KCR has asked state and district party leaders to prepare reports on the development in their areas and budgetary allocations made by the successive governments since 1956.Statistics on employment,water allocation for irrigation purposes and the details of livelihood source of the people in the region have already been gathered,according to him.Information gathered from districts will be compiled into a comprehensive report, he said. He said the video would be of one hour duration and would contain UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhis statement on Telangana during the election campaign in 2004 and 2009 polls,Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs comments in Parliament and President Abdul Kalams statement that the statehood issue was being considered by the Centre as was enshrined in the common minimum programme (CMP) besides the statements of other leaders on the issue.Other issues like backwardness of the region and the details of students who committed suicides would also be included in it.
KCR is of the opinion that TRS ideologue professor K Jayashankar and irrigation expert A Vidyasagar Rao would be the right persons to make strong arguments before the committee.Jayashankar told TOI that he was preparing a 50-page report explaining necessity of formation of Telangana state.Meanwhile, Telangana JAC convener M Kodandaram demanded that all political parties make their stand clear on Telangana before the committee. Addressing a press conference here,he said political parties should attend the meeting and express their views without fail. He said that the political party leaders should also make public the views they express on the contentious statehood issue before the committee.This will expose the double standards of some of the leaders, Kodandaram said.
---------------------------------------------------
T-effect : Stress level peaks in OU
Students of Osmania University are struggling,and this time not with the lathi-charging police but with their own disturbed minds.With the campus turning into a T bastion,the average OU student has ended up as a nervous wreck.With the Telangana struggle on campus completing three months,many students are queuing up for psychological counselling sessions. Students are undergoing post-traumatic stress leading to insomnia (sleeplessness),behavioural changes and even suicidal tendency.And recording this disturbing trend on campus is 15-day-old Sahayam,a counselling centre started by psychology depart-ment of the university. Counsellors at Sahayam say that students are approaching them with varying problems,all related to the T agitation.In a recent case,a IInd year student of Geophysics department of OU had to be taken to a psychiatrist for treatment as he was troubled by the tension on campus.
The police presence on campus,exams getting postponed repeatedly and suicide attempts on the university premises are factors causing depression. Take for instance a PG student who sought psychiatric treatment as he was disturbed by T suicides.The student complained that he had trouble sleeping after he saw images of self-immolation on television.Adding to this trauma was his own worry about getting a job after completion of the course.
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(source-toi)
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