NETA NATTER | THE NAIDUS-CHAMPS AT TUG OF WAR

In a tale straight out of a political potboiler, whispers in the power corridors suggest a senior minister from Telangana is busy pulling strings in a department where he should have no strings to pull. Allegedly, this senior minister, with surgical precision, has played a pivotal role in securing no-objection certificates from the irrigation department certifying that a particular piece of land is not in (full tank level) or buffer zones of lakes and tanks for undertaking real estate ventures. Just how this minister is able to do this despite having nothing to do with the irrigation department, is the question doing the rounds. There is rampant speculation that fairly hefty envelopes are changing hands, leaving the minister well-inoculated from any future cash shocks though the irrigation department’s coffers stay empty. The upper echelons in the department are apparently very miffed over facing heat for green-lighting illegal constructions — heat they claim is undeserved since they weren’t the ones cashing in.

REVANTH DODGES ALLU TOPIC WITH APLOMB

It isn’t often that news anchors of TV networks allow a politician to get a word, even edgeways, but Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy brought home on Friday evening that he was made of different stuff. Pressed relentlessly on the Allu Arjun and Pushpa 2 stampede episode to get the CM to say something controversial, the apparent fishing expedition failed with Revanth deftly turning the tables, delivering a sharp and sobering reminder: “You keep asking about a film actor taken to the police station, produced in court, and later secured bail. But you’re ignoring the real tragedy here — a woman lost her life in that stampede, and her son is still in a coma. What about their family? They were fans of Allu Arjun too. Is their plight not worth discussing?” Revanth, just moments earlier also batted off another question on who his favourite Tollywood superstar is declaring it was ‘Superstar’ Krishna. The anchor, clearly hoping for a contemporary name, pressed further, asking for the CM’s favourite among today’s stars. Revanth with a smile declared, “I am a political superstar now. I have many fans. I don’t have to be a fan of anyone like that anymore.”

LORD BALAJI TO THE RESCUE AGAIN?

Settling old scores can take a while as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are finding out with old issues still remaining to be sorted. A meeting here, a meeting there between the two sides are clearly not doing the trick and maybe it is time for some divine intervention — is the consensus that is now doing the rounds. This followed a recent meeting in Vijayawada with the TG side led by Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari meeting their AP counterparts to discuss untangling long-standing bifurcation disputes. The end result was zero progress on the gridlock and the TG bureaucrats returned to Hyderabad the same day. We could have done this on a video conference. But if we do have to go there again, the meeting should be in Tirupati, at least that way, we can have a darshan of Lord Venkateswara, and maybe some divine blessings are now needed, said one senior Babu the other day.

PRAGATI OR PRAJA? THAT IS THE QUESTION

The rechristened Praja Bhavan, formerly the chief minister’s official residence Pragathi Bhavan during K. Chandrashekar Rao’s regime, found itself at the centre of an unusual controversy. Once a bastion of heavy security and exclusivity, the building underwent a symbolic transformation under the current Congress government which opened it up for all. But for some, old habits clearly die hard. This past Friday, for an official event led by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Telangana’s ambitious green energy plans, a curious blunder set tongues wagging. A press release from Bhatti’s office referred to the venue as ‘Pragathi Bhavan’, and for a full hour, the slip-up went unnoticed, resulting in ripples of questions. Once the issue sank in, Bhatti’s team scrambled to issue a correction, apologising for the oversight and firmly restating that the building’s new name remains Praja Bhavan.

BJP STRUGGLES WITH NUMBERS IN TS

The Telangana BJP leaders seem to have found a new way to cover up the lack of response from the public to their public meetings. The other day, at a meeting addressed by party president J.P. Nadda which saw nearly half the venue staying empty, local party leaders on the dais using the public address system, kept urging the police on security duties at the venues to “cooperate” and allow people waiting outside to enter the grounds. The only problem was there were no large masses waiting to get in to the meeting place, prompting a reporter-turned-leader to say the announcements may not bring the non-existent crowds but may just about serve as a clever face-saving move to cover up their inability to rustle up people and hope Nadda would not have noticed the reality.

GHMC COMMISSIONER PREFERS STAYING LOW

Some bureaucrats prefer to remain in the background, never to be seen and the like. But then there are some whose disappearing tactics leave those around flummoxed, particularly when part of the job profile is to be seen on the streets, getting them ship-shape. Word doing the rounds in the somewhat dusty corridors of the GHMC headquarters is that it is very hard even for senior GHMC officials to get a hold of their commissioner K. Ilambarithi. Same is the case with contractors and with many bills pending, the GHMC top gun is said to be not very inclined to meet with them, and security has beefed up outside his office door. Such being the case, it is not surprising that Ilambarithi is not seen on the city streets unlike the previous GHMC commissioners.

IRRIGATION DEPT SHIES AWAY FROM DRAMA

Taking responsibility is clearly a hard task for officials in the Telangana irrigation department. Already under multiple scanners for the Medigadda disaster which by all accounts was caused because none really wanted to take any responsibility with the then BRS political bosses calling the shots, the recent 5.3 earthquake in Mulugu district, less than 40 km from the barrage, once again brought to the fore the continuing attitude. A top irrigation officer said he did not know anything about it and it was for the operation and maintenance folks to deal with, and the O&M person in-charge remained incommunicado. Mercifully, the quake did not add to Medigadda’s woes but the irrigation department, under the new dispensation, still apparently believes in passing the buck when it comes to even basic responsibilities.

ALLU ARJUN — THE ACTOR’S ACTOR

Actor Allu Arjun has been all the rage with his new Pushpa 2 movie release and the drama that followed his arrest only added to the goings on. Limelight is clearly the oxygen for film folks and Arjun appears to be no exception to this rule, coming before the media to make a statement, repeating what he did soon after he returned home after spending a night in the prison. Arjun repeated that he was truly sorry for the death of a woman in the stampede, that he was unaware of what was happening as he was inside the theatre watching the movie with his family, and that he would stand by the grieving family in any way he could. All of this left many wondering if the media interaction was another performance from the actor to cool things down, because as any actor, he is fairly good at projecting an image of his choice.

AMBATI SLEEPS WELL THANKS TO OTHER’S LOSS

Down and out? No need to stress. There is always a silver line. Or at least that appears to be the case with YSRC leader Ambati Rambabu who appeared to have discovered a unique stress-relief mantra — celebrating others’ failures. The other day, Ambati’s statement that he sleeps soundly after being roundly defeated in the last Assembly elections, resulted in some widely opened eyes. Ambati on his part explained that in 2014 he lost by 924 votes and spent many sleepless nights compared to the latest 28,000 vote defeat. Some of his party colleagues he pointed out lost by margins of 50,000 to 90,000 votes and this gives him some comfort and peaceful sleep at nights. While this finding peace at others’ heavier loss has apparently woken up some of his now upset party colleagues from slumber with them protesting, Ambati has apparently tucked himself in well on this issue.

TEMPLE WARS CONTINUE

The famous temples in AP appear to have a problem. Srisailam in particular, and Tirumala too, are seeing a game of enforced musical chairs when it comes to top positions. Just in a matter of weeks the Srisailam Devasthanam saw new executive officers come and go, while in Tirupati too officials are getting shifted quite rapidly. These changes are leaving the staff in both places confused with uncertainty over how long an official will stay in a given position. The word doing the rounds is there are battles raging among politicians and these changes are a manifestation of one winning one day, and losing the other resulting in new officials getting the posts, only to find themselves shunted out in no time

THE SIDELINED TAKE TO VORACIOUS READING

The powerful in politics, no matter how much so at one point of time, eventually get sidelined. Some cannot take it, do their best to stay relevant and refuse to give up. Some others seek to strike a balance and find some new loves, like in the case of AP’s former finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu. A man who wore many political hats has a lot of leisure these days so he has taken to reading books. He may take some time to get to the “I have read countless books” claims of the likes of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, or former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, but apparently, Yanamala is doing quite well on this front, and also taking some time for occasional tours of his constituency.

Contributions from Sampat G. Samritan, Avinash P. Subramanyam, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, P.V. Prasad, Vadrevu Srinivas, Sanjay Samuel Paul, Balu Pulipaka, Neeraj Kumar