NETA NATTER | CABINET ATTACKS BABUS
Babus will be babus. No matter which party comes to power, the babus who keep the machinery of the government running end up having it their way, for most part at least. Learning this the hard way are some ministers who, during a state Cabinet meeting the other day, complained to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, and in no uncertain terms, that some officials in the Chief Minister’s Office in the Secretariat were not taking their calls, or, when they did, were ignoring their requests on pending issues about their constituencies, districts and files without valid reason. Such officials could well be rolling the dice hoping that they are well-insulated.
EDUCATOR SLIPS AWAY FROM ACB
Sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau laid a trap to catch a corrupt vice-chancellor of a state university recently but the VC’s impending retirement on May 21 saved him from getting caught red-handed while accepting bribes. A contractor approached the ACB with a complaint that the VC had demanded `20 lakh to clear his bills amounting to `20 crore. The ACB laid a trap to catch the VC by asking the contractor to approach VC with `20 lakh cash and they will catch him in the act. The contractor came to know that the VC was going to retire in a day or two and he feared that his cash would be stuck with the ACB though the VC would be caught. While ACB sleuths were waiting to accompany the contractor to the VC, the contractor backed out all of a sudden and fled from the spot with the cash. The poor ACB sleuths had to return empty-handed.
ETALA FORGETS BJP’S GOODBYE SLOGAN
It’s not really easy to make the switch from one political party to another. After all, while in one, it is all about that party, its achievements, and so on and so forth. When leaders quit the party and go join a new one, sometimes things can get somewhat awkward. And even seasoned politicians are no exceptions to this rule, as the goings-on at a recent event involving BJP leader and former BRS minister Etala Rajendar showed. During his interaction, Rajendar spent a while talking about the Lord Rama temple in Ayodhya, and other issues like a true blue BJP leader and, for most part, left out stuff about Telangana, the movement for statehood and so on. Typically, all BJP leaders end their speeches with the ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogan, but sometimes political roots are hard to ignore as Rajendar ended saying ‘Jai Telangana’. Soon after, apparently realising what he had said, Rajendar rose again from his chair and said ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
SHABBIR ALI IS A BUSY MAN INDEED
There are some who can hold their ship steady. Then there are some who rock the boat. For now, the one who is said to be sailing well in the Congress, and with one leg in each ship, is former minister Md Ali Shabbir. Following the party policy, Shabbir is now in-charge for the Nizamabad Urban Assembly segment where he contested from, but lost, the last Assembly polls. Since he is originally from Kamareddy, from where Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy unsuccessfully contested, Shabbir is also holding the Kamareddy fort. During the polls, Revanth’s brother A. Kondal Reddy worked as the Congress coordinator for Kamareddy. Subsequently, Shabbir was appointed as adviser to the government on SC, ST, BC and minority welfare affairs, and is now a regular at party programmes in both constituencies. While Shabbir is busy with the multiple responsibilities, TPCC working president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, who was elevated as an MLC, is now being looked upon as the party in-charge of Nizamabad Urban. One ship, one captain, should be the rule, several party workers now in Nizamabad have taken to saying.
PAWAN KALYAN FLEES CONSTITUENCY POST-ELECTION
It never ends for Jana Sena chief and film star Pawan Kalyan, who has been for long a target for ribbing by his political opponents and folks. After the May 13 polling with Pawan Kalyan not returning to Pithapuram constituency where he contested from, word doing the rounds is ‘Pawan Kalyan is missing from the constituency’ and that he will reappear on June 4, the day for counting of votes. Apparently local Jana Sena workers are a bit miffed that the actor-politician did not hold any “thanksgiving” get-together for party leaders and workers as was done by other contestants from the constituency.
POLITICOS JET OFF FOR VACATIONS
Now that the hurly-burly of the electioneering is over in AP, and with the top bosses of the YSRC and the TD leaving for distant shores on personal visits — TD’s N. Chandrababu Naidu to the USA, YSRC leader and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to Europe, and APCC chief Y.S. Sharmila also went to the USA — other leaders too have taken to getting out and relaxing in their own way. Minister R.K. Roja and former minister Vellampalli Srinivas made a trip to the Madurai Meenakshi temple seeking blessings from the deity there, while Bheemili MLA candidate Mutamsetti Srinivasa Rao made a round of the temples in Srisailam and Simhachalam. Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam West candidate P.V.G.R. Naidu went to Srisailam and to the Madurai Meenakshi temple. Not to be outdone, personal assistants of some leaders too have left on quick pilgrimages, praying for electoral success for their bosses as was the case with Srinivasa Rao’s assistant heading off to Varanasi along with a team to perform special pujas at Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Contributions from K.M.P. Patnaik, Neeraj Kumar, Vadrevu Srinivas, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Narender Pulloor