Proddatur, May 15: TDP district president M Linga Reddy resigned from the post owning moral responsibility for party’s debacle in the recent byelections to Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly seats.
Linga Reddy, who represents Proddatur Assembly segment, is the lone TDP MLA from the district.
–Agencies
Hyderabad, May 15: With the TRS threatening to resume Telangana agitation from anytime now, director general of police K Aravinda Rao on Saturday said the state police is geared up to face the challenge.
“The police will do whatever they can in the given circumstances,” the DGP said on the sidelines of a programme at Cyberabad Commissionerate where he launched a training programme for policemen.
However, Aravinda Rao evaded a reply when asked whether additional forces, particularly the Central paramilitary forces would be deployed to handle the Telangana agitators.
Hyderabad, May 15: In a virtual show of dissidence so soon after the party’s humiliating debacle in the by-elections, senior minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Saturday called for a change in the style of functioning, way of thinking and performance by the entire cabinet, including the chief minister.
Hyderabad, May 15: TDP rebel MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy has reiterated his demand that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu send a copy of the pro-Telangana resolution adopted by party’s Politburo to Union home minister P Chidambaram.
Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, he said that as Naidu was not willing to send the copy to Chidambaram, he would organise his next meeting too without TDP flags or Naidu’s photo.
He said he was ready to work with Jai Andhra activists and attend public meetings organised by them.
Vishakapatnam, May 15: The Andhra Pradesh Greyhounds and Odisha Maoists exchanged fire in a forest in Malkangiri district of Odisha. No casualties on either side have been reported.
The exchange of fire lasted for two hours, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., in the dense forest on Saturday.
Police sources said more forces would be deployed at the place from Sunday.
As the area is on the borders of Odisha, Greyhounds are moving forward with help of Odisha police in the forest. Police suspect the presence of Maoists in a huge number in the place.
Hyderabad, May 14: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who won the Kadapa Lok Sabha byelection with a massive mandate has said that this was the ‘beginning of far reaching changes that are going to take place in the state in the days to come.’ Speaking to reporters here, the MP-elect said: The results are a slap on the face of the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party; The Congress leaders had resorted to cheap electoral politics.
Kadapa, May 14: YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at no point appeared to be trailing since the counting began at 8 a.m.
With PRP not in the fray like the 2009 poll, the party votes were distributed among the three contestants, with a major chunk going to Jagan who also cut into the traditional votebank of both the Congress and the TDP.
In Pulivendula segment, Jagan secured 1,22,820 votes, while the Congress and TDP got 14,643 and 10,966. Jagan polled three times more votes than the votes of his two rivals combined.
Kadapa, May 14: YSR Congress candidate from the Pulivendula Assembly constituency YS Vijayalakshmi won with a thumping majority of 81,730 votes over her nearest rival YS Vivekananda Reddy of the Congress.
It was a record majority, higher than the 71,580 vote majority YSR had got in 1994.
However, the highest margin of victory to date was achieved by YSR’s uncle YS Purushotham Reddy who got 97,448- vote majority in the 1991 by-election.
While Viveka managed to retain his deposit, TDP’s Ravindranath Reddy lost his deposit.
–Agencies
Kadapa, May 14: Like never before in the Kadapa parliamentary constituency Jagan secured a thumping majority of over 5 lakh votes over his nearest rival DL Ravindra Reddy of the Congress.
The Congress and TDP candidates lost deposits, a first in the district. It is also for the first time in their respective political careers that Mysoora and Ravindra lost their deposits.
A candidate has to get at least one-sixth of the votes polled to retain deposit, 1,71,673 votes in the case under study.
Jagan secured the second highest majority for an MP from the state in all elections.
Hyderabad, May 14: After speaking his mind in the presence of the party chief at the Politburo meeting on Thursday, rebel Telugu Desam leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy is going ahead with his plan to conduct a series of apolitical meetings in the Telangana region.
With chief N Chandrababu Naidu not responding to his request for clarifying the party’s stand on the Telangana statehood issue, Nagam Janardhan Reddy has decided to organise his next meeting at Parigi on May 21 without flying the party flag.
Krishna dist, May 14: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided to stage a rasta roko on national highways across the state on May 19, demanding minimum support price for paddy farmers, said the party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu.
Addressing farmers at Veeravalli, Hanuman Junction and Nuzvid during his visit to Krishna district on Friday, he said rice millers were cheating the paddy farmers by offering lower price for their produce on the pretext of high moisture content and ryots were getting a mere Rs 60 per paddy bag.
Hyderabad, May 14: Chief electoral officer (CEO) Bhanwar Lal on Friday lashed out at political parties for casting aspersions on officials during the Kadapa bypolls.
“It was unfortunate on the part of certain political leaders for making adverse comments against poll officials,” Bhanwar Lal said.
“Our duty is to facilitate and hold elections in a fair and peaceful manner but how will we be responsible if people did not vote for their party candidate?,” questioned Bhanwarlal.
–Agencies
Hyderabad, May 14: The state government is planning to extend Arogyasri scheme to pensioners and government employees, chief executive officer of Arogyasri Trust Babu said at a seminar on ‘Health insurance for senior citizens’ organised by the HelpAge India here on Friday.
Out of the one million people who were treated under Arogyasri in the last four years, 1.05 lakh were senior citizens, he said.
Efforts have been made to clear the claims of each hospital in 24 hours instead of the earlier seven days.
Tirupati, May 14: “What has gone wrong and where?” leaders of the ruling party and the main opposition party seem to be asking themselves while licking the wounds of the crushing defeat inflicted on them by Jagan’s YSR Congress party in the Kadapa and Pulivendula by-elections.
Both Congress and TDP had trained their big guns on the young Jagan, launched a broadside and used every means to project him as a ‘corrupt person’. All that backfired on them.
Hyderabad, May 14: Opposing the state government’s proposal to reduce reservations for backward classes from 34 per cent to 24 per cent in the panchayat raj bodies, the Andhra Pradesh State BC Welfare Association on Friday demanded the state government to revoke its decision.
It also warned of statewide protests if the government goes ahead with its decision.
Hyderabad, May 14: The late YSR’s widow Vijayamma and son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday retained their Pulivendula Assembly and Kadapa Lok Sabha seats respectively in a record-breaking, landslide victory.
The result was never in doubt. But the “record-breaking” bit came as a shock to the Congress as despite its best efforts, Jagan romped home with a staggering 5.46 lakh majority while his mother bettered her late husband’s feat in Pulivendula with a winning margin of 85,191 votes.
Hyderabad, May 14: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti is ready to face mid-term elections if they take place, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has said, agreeing with the prediction of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that after the Kadapa by elections the state government will collapse.
The TRS chief, answering a question at a news conference after the party’s state executive committee meeting here on Thursday said: “I too have heard of the prediction. We will have no difficulty in facing the elections whenever they are held.”
Hyderabad, May 14: Four government officials were caught taking bribe in separate traps by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials across the state.
The principal-cum-warden, B Nooka Raju, and deputy warden, T Mohan Rao, of Tribal Welfare Residential School, Koyyuru in Visakhapatnam district were caught taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 on Friday.
They demanded the bribe from a supplier to the residential school to issue a cheque towards bill amount for supply of vegetables, an official release said.
Anantapur, May 14: It has been 18 days since spiritual leader Satya Sai Baba has passed away, but the affairs at Prashanti Nilayam in Puttaparthi, the heart of Satya Sai Baba’s spiritual empire, are yet to be settled.
The doors of Yajurveda Mandir, which were closed on April 15, are yet to be opened and the security at the place is unprecedented. The room reportedly has most valuable things, the details of which are only known to Satya Sai’s caretaker Satyajit and trust member Ratnakar.
Hyderabad, May 14: At last, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has announced its Telangana Coordination Committee with E Dayakar Rao as its convener and 11 other MLAs as its members.
Before leaving for a three-day tour, party president N Chandrababu Naidu reportedly gave his nod to the new committee.
After Telangana TDP Forum convener Nagam Janardhan Reddy refused to continue as convener, Naidu replaced Nagam with Dayakar Rao while constituting the committee.
Hyderabad, May 14: A local court directed the Jubilee Hills police to investigate into a private complaint filed by two advocates who alleged that Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) founder-president K Chiranjeevi and 11 other party leaders ‘cheated’ people of Telangana by backtracking on T issue.
Nalgonda, May 14: The arrest of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh proves his commitment to the welfare of farmers, Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao said.
Speaking at a BC meeting held here today, the Congress leader said that by visiting a place where farmers were up in arms against the UP government over acquisition of their land, Rahul Gandhi proved that he always cares for farmers.
Kadapa, May 14: Accusing the ruling party men of harassing his party functionaries, YSR Congress Party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy was preparing for a legal course of action in that regard.
Addressing his party leaders, activists and supporters at his office in Pulivendula on Thursday, the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat contestant said that in spite of unfair tactics of and underhand dealing between the Congress and the Telugu Desam, his victory would be a certainty.
His party would also win the Pulivendula Assembly seat by a big margin, he predicted.
Hyderabad, May 14: Five persons, including four employees of Hindustan Sanitary Industries Limited (HSIL) in the city, were arrested for theft of 25 cheques of the company and fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1.27 crore.
The HSIL, located at Ashok Bhoopal Chambers, Sarder Patel Road, markets sanitary ware. According to police, the company has accounts in Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI bank.
Hyderabad, May 14: Creative Multimedia Education Society (CMES) organized Life: The Golden Season, a charity art show in aid of socially deprived elders. A collection of pencil sketches, photo-realistic portraits with old age as the common theme, recreated by CMES students were displayed at the gallery.
All portraits are up for sale and the entire proceeds will benefit the inmates of Trinity Service Society, an old-age home in Hyderabad.