Andhra Pradesh

Tirumala, May 15: Verification and appraisal of diamond jewellery of Lord Venkateswara will be completed by the end of June.

After the completion of inventory, the TTD executive officer will submit a report to the High Court in July, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India vicechairman Rajiv Jain has said.

The High Court asked the TTD to submit a report on temple jewellery in connection with a PIL case. Rajiv Jain who has camped here since Monday, held a meeting with the TTD officials this evening in this regard.

Kurnool, May 15: Trouble has broken out for Chief Minister K Rosaiah in Kurnool just on the eve of his visit to the district with the local MP Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy and minister Silpa Mohan Reddy teeing off on a bitter feud. The spat almost exactly reprises the tiff between Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao and Industries Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana in Guntur district just ahead of a chief ministerial visit there last week.

New Delhi, May 15: The CBI today ruled out any “conspiracy or sabotage” in the fatal helicopter crash which killed the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy.

In its inquiry report submitted today to the state government, the agency said the crash was an “accident” which could have been averted if the pilots had terminated the journey or changed the flight path in view of adverse weather conditions.

Hyderabad, May 15: Though a little late, the State Government has decided to streamline the anarchic functioning of the blood banks in the State.

It appears to have got round to the job after the infamous incident of HIV positive blood being injected into an injured constable in Ra j ahmundry l a s t month.

By an order today, a committee has been appointed to review and recommend measures to strengthen the management system.

Hyderabad, May 15: Four days ahead of the third anniversary of the Mecca Masjid blast, gunmen shot dead a policeman in Hussaini Alam in the Old City this afternoon.

On the second anniversary of the blast last year, two motorcycle-borne assailants had shot and killed a Home Guard in Falaknuma.

The police had been anticipating trouble on May 18, especially after recent investigations pointed to the involvement of a right-wing group called Abhinav Bharat in the blast.

But they were caught off guard as the ‘‘retaliation’’ came four days earlier.

Hyderabad, May 15: The State unit of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the Government order an inquiry by the Lok Ayukta into alleged corruption on the part of ministers and legislators in the wake of a Congress MP’s accusations against a minister.

Tirumala, May 15: The office of the temple deputy executive officer today cancelled several Vastram Seva tickets which had been booked under the `advance reservation’ system.

Hyderabad, May 15: The State unit of CPI (M) on Friday condemned the firing incident in which a police constable was killed at Shahalibanda. In a press release here, party secretary B.V. Raghavulu demanded the government to initiate stringent action against the perpetrators and requested Rs.10 lakh ex-gratia to the constable’s family.

In a separate statement, the Bajrang Dal has demanded the government to take necessary steps to arrest illegal migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

–Agencies

Tirupati, May 14: The reported efforts of P “Dollar’’ Seshadri to cling on in service of the TTD have raised the hackles of the petitioner whose efforts recently saw the High Court directing the temple body to effect his dismissal.

One Magunti Gopal Reddy, whose writ petition in the High Court led to the verdict against Seshadri, has served notice on TTD Executive Officer IYR Krishna Rao for immediate action and execution of the order.

Vijayawada, May 14: Minister for civil supplies Jupalli Krishna Rao lambasted Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu for his remark that the state government was not taking initiative in buying the Nellore Sannalu variety of paddy. Speaking to presspersons here today, he said Chandrababu Naidu had no moral right to speak on behalf of farmers as he did nothing for them during his nine-year tenure as the chief minister.

Hyderabad, May 14: Telugu Desam party (TDP) senior leader and former minister K Siva Prasada Rao today demanded a highlevel inquiry into the sources of income and assets of ministers and MLAs in the state. He wanted Chief Minister K Rosaiah to constitute an independent statutory body to conduct the probe.

Speaking to reporters at the party office here, Siva Prasada Rao said that the state government should bring the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) under the ambit of Lok Ayukta to curb corrupt practices among public representatives.

Hyderabad, May 14: The Centre seems to have no stomach for small states any more, if recent remarks made by P Chidambaram are any indication. Stunned by the Dantewada attack on security forces last month, the Union government is said to be worried about the national security implications of creating small states. If so, that may end any hopes of a separate Telangana.

Hyderabad, May 14: Support for Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who is being targeted by Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, is increasing by the day. If it was Panchayat Raj Minister B Satyanarayana and Sanatnagar MLA Marri Shashidhar Reddy yesterday, it was Endowments Minister Gade Venkata Reddy, Government Whip S Sailajanath and MLC R Padma Raju who took on Jagan today.

Anantapur, May 14: A driver from Kadiri in Anantapur district who went to the Middle East in search of greener pastures 40 days ago was instead stranded in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and died of starvation. According to reports reaching the family, Shaik Ataullah went to work as a driver in Kuwait, but was forced to go to Saudi Arabia to work as a shepherd. Ataullah (27) was a resident of Nalla Gutta Veedhi in Kadiri town. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Unable to make ends meet, Ataullah decided to go to the Middle East for employment.

Warrangal, May 14: Four persons were taken into custody for questioning for their possible role in the theft of Rs 1.36 crore worth of gold from the Andhra Bank branch at Gudur in Warangal district.

A special investigation team (SIT) headed by Mahaboobabad deputy superintendent of police Prasad Rao and three inspectors and two SIs was formed to probe the case.

Hyderabad, May 14: Alleging that Medical Council of India chairman Ketan Desai had manipulated all other IMA branches, except the Hyderabad branch, with obvious inducements, former president of IMA, Hyderabad branch, A Gopal Kishan today demanded that the Centre pursue all criminal cases registered against Desai and ensure that he got a stern punishment.

Hyderabad, May 14: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has demanded the State government to exert pressure on the Centre to constitute an experts committee on the issue of illegal projects taken up by Maharashtra on river Godavari.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, party leaders N. Janardhan Reddy and E. Dayakar Rao requested Chief Minister K. Rosaiah to request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to form experts committee so that it could go into the loss to the Telangana region, if the illegal projects were completed.

Sangareddy, May 14: On Kadapa MP Jagan’s yatra in Warangal, the TRS leader T Harish Rao said the government should take responsibility for any consequences in it.

“One or two leaders should visit the bereaved family, if it is `Odarpu’,’’ he felt.

Unlike that, thousands of activists are busy making arrangements for public meetings, as part of the yatra, he said.

He wondered why the police were not fearing law and order problem during Jagan’s yatra while foiling TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao from launching `fastunto- death’ for the cause of Telangana.

Warangal, May 14: Arrangements are on for Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s `Odarpu yatra’ in the district from May 28.

His supporters in the Congress party met in Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah’s residence last night and held discussions on the steps to make the yatra successful.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders have announced that they would oppose the yatra. The Congress leaders also discussed the strategy to face the opposition from pro-Telangana protestors.

Vanasthalipuram, May 14: A seven-year girl, who had been missing from her home for three days, was found dead in a sump in a house at Vanasthalipuram on Thursday.

The decomposed body was found in the water sump in the house of A Ravichandra Reddy, a resident of Plot No 1, Vasantha Hills.

Ravichandra Reddy told police that the sump had not been opened for the past four days as there was no water supply. It was opened on Thursday as water supply resumed.

The girl, Rasool Bee, left home with her elder brother, Subhani, on Monday. She was the daughter of Shali and Fathima.

Hyderabad, May 14: Even as teachers welcome the grading system adopted from this year for the 10 {+t} {+h} class examinations, a section of parents and students point out that the method adopted for grading will be disadvantageous to them. Unlike the CBSE grading system that is static, the State government has adopted the nine-point ‘relative grading’ system.

Rajhmundary, May 14: The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) political affairs committee (PAC) which met here today decided to launch agitations against the special economic zones, sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, farmers problems and rehabilitation and relief package for the Indira Sagar Project (ISP) oustees.

Presiding over the meeting, party president K Chiranjeevi underlined the need to strengthen the party from the grassroot level to meet the aspirations of the people.

The gap between the party leaders and cadre should be removed, he opined.

Guntur, May 14: In a day of fast-paced developments, Rayapati Srinivas, MLC and brother of Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasvia Rao, lodged a complaint with the police in Guntur seeking an inquiry into how a letter purportedly written by his brother and charging up to 20 leaders in the district with corruption, came into circulation.

Sambasiva Rao insists he has nothing to do with the missive and has denounced it as a fake. He suspects the hand of his rival Lakshminarayana’s supporters.

Mahbubnagar, May 14: Four activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad sustained injuries here on Thursday when they jumped from the top of the building housing the Two Town police station protesting against the ‘high-handedness’ of Sub-Inspector Lingaiah.

Sangareddy, May 14: Medak Lok Sabha member M. Vijayashanti said that as much as Rs. 1.5 crore was spent on addressing water problems in her constituency by sanctioning borewells, pipelines and by taking up other required measures.

Addressing media persons here on Thursday along with former MLA T. Harish Rao, former MLC R. Satyanaranaya and TRS district convenor M. Raghunandan Rao, Ms. Vijayashanti said that funds were being released to all seven assembly constituencies without any prejudice and that the party had been concentrating on the issue for the past two months.