Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada, May 9: Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal is in the habit of conducting his own surveys independently on election results. His surveys also proved to be correct on several occasions. Now he has come before the media with the predictions of his surveys on Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly by-elections.

He said according to his survey, money would win in Kadapa and sympathy in Pulivendula. He has however not named the victors. He said all the people of the state knew the names of those two (Jagan and Vijayamma).

Vijayawada, April 08: In an attempt to bring awareness among people over the ill effects of using ‘mineral’ water being sold by unauthorised water plants in the city, Vijayawada municipal officials are conducting chorine tests to the water.

As part of the awareness drive, the officials reached households in various areas under the corporation limits including Lakshminagar, LBS Nagar, NSC Bose Nagar, Kudnavari Kandriga, Prajasakthinagar and Rajiv Nagar on Saturday and conducted chlorine tests to the water, claimed to be the mineral water.

Hyderabad, April 08: TDP politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Saturday blasted the state government for its inefficiency while approving the annual plan.

Ramakrishnudu pointed out that as against the proposal made by the government for Rs 4,038 crore annual plan, the Planning Commission finalised for a plan outlay of Rs 3,182 crore. It did not in any way match the national average, he said. He recalled that the commission was reducing the annual outlay by 15 per cent every year. This year, a huge Rs 949 crore was cut in education sector.

Khammam, April 08: A B.Ed student Mitta Sarika (24) was murdered by Uddandu Raju (23), the attender of Annie Beasant College in which she studied. Her body was found buried in a field near the college compound on Saturday.

According to information, Sarika left her house on May 1 on the pretext of attending a function. But when she failed to return by evening, her parents filed a complaint at Khammam rural police station on May 2.

The police initially suspected Upendra Reddy, who had dropped a marriage proposal with Sarika recently.

Hyderabad, April 08: The Telugu Desam has appealed to the Election Commission to deal firmly with electoral malpractices like distribution of money in Kadapa.

Rajhmundary, April 08: East Godavari collector M Ravi Chandra has sent a preliminary report to the government on the death of P Anusha.

The girl who was bitten by a stray dog on March 25, died on May 4 due to rabies. It was alleged that though her parents B Srinivas and Lakshmi took the girl to the government hospital soon after she was bitten by the dog, rabies vaccine was not administered to her due to lack of stock.

Kadapa, April 08: Police seized 28 cases containing 1,344of liquor bottles from the house of Sarojinamma, a retired teacher and relative of Badvel MLA PM Kamalamma, at Porumamilla on Saturday.

According to Porumammilla circle inspector Vijaya Shekar, the liquor was meant for distribution among voters.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the key to the house was with M Kumar, a Congress activist who admitted that the liquor cases were his and were meant for distribution to voters.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, April 08: Sending a strong signal to the companies which take land from it but build nothing, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) on Saturday announced it will continue cancellation of agreements with such companies.

Apart from cancelling the allotment of 1,750 acres to Unitech Limited for developing the Knowledge City in Visakhapatnam, the APIIC governing body which met here Saturday also issued a second notice to the Raheja Group and sought legal opinion for taking action against Emaar Properties.

Kadapa, April 08: Will Mayamma, a Dalit of Thudumaladinne in in the Mydukur Assembly constituency cast her vote on Sunday? The question is uppermost in the minds of the people as Thudumaladinne, which is just 2 km from Mydukur MLA and minister DL Ravindra Reddy’s native village of Sunkesula, is one of the villages in Kadapa notorious for rigging in the past 30 years. The village, which has 1,257 voters, has been following Ravindra Reddy ever since it elected him for first time in 1978 as an independent.

Hyderabad, April 08: Over 65 percent electors cast their votes in the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh Sunday. Barring minor incidents, voting was peaceful, officials said.

Though the polling process came to an end at 5 p.m., the election authorities allowed voters standing in queues outside voting centres to exercise their franchise.

Hyderabad, April 08: The governing council of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) has decided to pursue the special leave petition filed in the Supreme Court requesting for a final judgment with regard to the statute 13 (3) of the RGUKT Act.

Hyderabad, April 08: Six pharma and chemical units have been issued closure/stop production orders by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) for violation of various norms.

The APPCB Task Force, which met here recently, took the decision. The board gave 48 hours to the units to comply with the orders.

The following are the industries on which action has been taken.

Hyderabad, April 08: Rentachintala of Guntur district recorded the highest temperature of 45 degree Celsius on Saturday, met department said.

According to a warning issued by the Hyderabad Meteorological Department, heatwave conditions would continue in the districts of Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna over the next two days.

Meanwhile, the day temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius was reported in Bapatla, Ongole, Tirupati, Kadapa, Mahabubnagar, Nellore, Kurnool and Vijayawada on Saturday.

Vijayawada, April 08: District TDP president and Mylavaram MLA Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao on Saturday blamed the engineering wing of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation for contamination of water as they failed to plug leakages in pipelines properly.

The contamination of water led to the outbreak of diarrhoea which claimed three lives.

Hundreds of people in slum areas have been afflicted with the water-borne disease and are undergoing treatment in private and government hospitals in the city, he said.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, April 08: PCC president D Srinivas’ two-day visit to Delhi from Sunday assumes political significance in view of the Kadapa bypolls and disciplinary action pending against MLAs loyal to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. He will meet party president Sonia Gandhi on Monday and and in-charge of state Congress affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Hyderabad, April 08: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) legislator T Harish Rao has urged chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to take steps for establishing the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)’s regional institute either in Hyderabad or in Telangana districts.

In a letter to the chief minister, the TRS MLA said he was making the plea to him after he came to know that minister for higher secondary education K Parthasarathy and Union Minister for Human Resources D Purandeswari were planning to have the institute located in Andhra area.

Hyderabad, April 08: Former chief minister Damodaram Sanjeevaiah was a brilliant political strategist and his services were an inspiration for younger politicians in the state, National Disaster Management Authority vice-chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy has said.

Paying rich tributes to Sanjeevaiah on his 39th death anniversary at Sanjeevaiah Park here on Saturday, Sashidhar Reddy urged young politicians to follow the footsteps of the late leader.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, May 8 (IANS) In a unique way to pray for the victory, the wife of a minister in Andhra Pradesh and the Congress candidate for Kadapa Lok Sabha seat D.L. Ravindra Reddy offered ‘puja’ to an electronic voting machine (EVM).

Before casting her vote at a polling station at Kazipet in Mydukuru assembly segment, Subhadramma performed ‘puja’ rituals as the polling officials on duty made no attempt to stop her.

She broke a coconut and applied ‘mokku’ (an item used for puja) on the EVM, praying for the victory of Ravindra Reddy.

kadapa, May 08: It’s more a battle of prestige than power for the by-election to the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh today.

Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, son of the late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, is locked in an intense battle with the Congress for the high-profile election, a situation caused by his resignation as MP from the seat after a bitter parting of ways with his father’s party in November last year.

Jagan later floated his own party, the YSR Congress.

Hyderabad, May 08: Polling began in Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district Sunday amid tight security.

Voters started casting their votes at 1,512 polling centres at 8 a.m., the poll officials said. Voting will continue till 5 p.m.

As many as 13,28,869 voters, including 6,80,566 women in Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, are eligible to cast their votes.

Some 11,100 security personnel from state police and central paramilitary forces were deployed at the booths.

Hyderabad, May 08: The newly launched YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh will face its first electoral test Sunday as its founder leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy takes on the Congress party and the Telugu Desam Party rivals in the by-election from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency.

The by-poll for the Pulivendula assembly seat will also be held Sunday where Reddy’s mother Y.S. Vijayalaxmi is seeking re-election.

Hyderabad, May 07: Responding to Telangana Telugu Desam Party Forum leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy’s call for support to his ‘Telangana Sadhana Yatra’, Telangana Rashtra Samithi Floor leader Etela Rajender on Saturday said that his party would support any attempt to bring the disparate pro-Telangana groups under one umbrella only if the senior TDP leader resigns from his party and works for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Hyderabad, April 07: To apply make-up to 100 classical dance artistes and that too in 100 minutes can be quite a task for even the best of make-up artists. It includes cleaning the face with a wet cloth, applying face cream, foundation, eyeshade, kohl, lipstick and much more.

Quite an elaborate process, one may wonder.

Hyderabad, April 07: The US strike against Osama bin Laden has come in handy for BJP leaders to point a critical finger at the performance of the Congress-led UPA government in tackling terrorism in India.

BJP senior leader Ch Vidyasagar Rao said the party would be undertaking a special campaign in various parts of the country to drive home the point that the Union government has failed to match the achievements of the earlier BJP-led NDA government on tackling terrorism.

Hyderabad, April 07: The bail petitions of former additional divisional railway manager in Raipur AK Jagannatham and suspended chairman of RRB, Mumbai, SN Sharma, who were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for their alleged involvement in the multicrore RRB examination paper scam, were dismissed by the Special Court for CBI cases in the city today.

The court, however, granted bail to three other accused — Vivek, son of Sharma, J Sahreen Kumar and B Vijay Shankar. Vivek was given bail on health grounds. They were told not to leave city.

–Agencies