Hyderabad: In a political paradox, one of the strongest voices among Telangana’s contemporary politicians will fall silent at a time the decibels peak during the campaign for the most-awaited bypoll to the Huzurabad Assembly constituency. Bandi Sanjay Kumar, president of the BJP state unit, who is known to be vociferous, will not utter a word about politics during the auspicious ‘Navaratri’. A staunch devotee of Goddess Durga, he takes up deeksha during the auspicious days. This means some relief to his rivals. In fact, Sanjay is among the three politicians, the others being BJP MP D. Arvind and TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy who can rattle the TRS. They were the first to reply to pink party boss K. Chandrashekar Rao in his own language and grabbed space for themselves in the political arena. Their insolent reactions are increasingly becoming a headache to the TRS, but the ruling party is confused on how to react. Sanjay's silence will bring some relief to the TRS for sure!
‘Shadow boss’ rules the roost in GHMC
The GHMC shadow boss who is on extension has been taking all key decisions in the corporation. Every important order from the government should pass through him on most occasions without the knowledge of the commissioner. Incidentally, this officer belongs to Andhra Pradesh, and has been taking crucial decisions including on promotions, transfers, suspensions, pensions and initiating action. Ultimately, honest officers, who are a few in number anyway, are bearing the brunt. The officer even issued an order to keep an eye on not only the commissioner but also the mayor and people who meet them including mediapersons to ensure the system remains opaque. The trusted lieutenant directly reports to the top bureaucrat, who promotes unilateral and feudalist ideas to woo his political bosses while ignoring the public interest. He is not only making a mockery of public administration but also preventing citizens from questioning the authorities in spite the norms and their rights being violated.
Discom chief doesn’t practise what he preaches!
Top officials at the Telangana energy department always talk about discoms reeling under heavy losses, and preach consumers not to resort to power theft and pay their bills promptly. However, a top Discom official proved yet again that preaching is meant for others to follow and not for those who preach. Southern Discom CMD G. Raghuma Reddy is facing allegations of flouting norms to secure a domestic power connection to his under-construction house in Banjara Hills against a commercial connection and causing loss to his own company as power charges for the domestic connection are lower than for the commercial category. The Raghuma Reddy issue has become a subject of hot debate in the energy department. It is said that the department’s own vigilance wing had exposed Raghuma Reddy’s alleged misuse of power last month but the department kept this issue under wraps. As per norms, one has to submit an application to the energy department seeking a power connection for under-construction buildings and the department allots a temporary commercial connection during the construction period. After the construction is complete, a permanent connection, either domestic or commercial, is allotted based on the nature of the building. In his case, Raghuma Reddy obtained a domestic connection directly against the norms and used low-cost domestic power for construction activities.
Kavitha speaks up in House, finally
It has been a year since Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, got elected as MLC from Nizamabad in October 2020. But she never spoke in the Legislative Council until this week, when she raised the issue of lack of respect and funds for elected representatives in rural local bodies. The state government reacted swiftly and issued orders within 24 hours enhancing salaries for MPTCs, ZPTCs, MPPs and sarpanches. This triggered speculations in political circles as to why Kavitha had raised her voice for the first time at this time, and that too about MPTCs etc. The buzz in a section of the party is that Kavitha's term as MLC will end in January 2022, which is just three months away, and she needs to be re-elected from the same seat. Kavitha got elected as MLC from Nizamabad local authorities’ constituency in which the voters are MPTCs, MPPs, ZPTCs and sarpanches, who are angry with the TRS government not giving them any respect in allocation of funds or duties. Kavitha realised this and attempted to pacify them by taking up their issue in the House to garner their support for the upcoming MLC election, say the sources.
