Politicians, as a class, are adept at many things, especially those who have tasted some success and are no longer wannabe leaders but have enjoyed the fruits of their labour. Some among these are also those apparently adept at counting their chickens before they hatch. Such, now, is the case with several leaders of the TRS. While TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, who has an intense distaste for gambling, has been playing his cards close to his chest on the subject of launching a national party that could challenge the BJP, this has not stopped a few in the TRS from day-dreaming about their political prospects in Delhi as part of a non-BJP government and assuming higher positions at the national level. This bout of extreme hope gained some momentum after KCR’s remarks at the TRSLP meeting in Telangana Bhavan last month that many of the party MPs, MLAs and MLCs would become Union ministers, Governors and ambassadors of various countries. Surely, this prophecy was greeted with surprise and even some well-hidden skepticism by the attendees at the meeting. But hope rose slowly when the TRS supremo reminded them about what he said way back in 2001 that those who joined the TRS then would go on to become MPs, ministers, MLAs and MLCs. “Then too some laughed at me,” KCR told his flock. And so began this new-found optimism among TRS’s inner coterie.
ROJA DEPLOYS ABUSE TO GARNER POLITICAL POINTS
When it comes to taking down an opponent, politicians believe the trick is to fire some well-aimed, and well-timed, barbs and maybe even some strong fighting words. But, at times, the desire to do so ends up in employing some bad language. Joining the ranks of no-holds-barred verbal attacks on her political rivals, or rather those from the opposition TD recently, has been minister R.K. Roja in Andhra Pradesh.
Roja, who was once considered a firebrand leader, particularly after her one-year suspension from the AP Legislative Assembly, when the TD led by N. Chandrababu Naidu was in power, appears to have chosen to follow her fellow YSRC leaders such as Kodali Nani and Jogi Ramesh in her attempts to take down rivals including Nara Lokesh, calling him a “person without an address”, which of course sounds pretty coarse in Telugu, the language she said that in. Then came some pretty unprintable stuff about cats and their droppings, and Roja issued a stern warning to Lokesh declaring that she could get him thrashed if he criticised Chief Minster Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Just so she stays in “good company” in terms of unprintable vocabulary, she proceeded to defend Nani for using strong words against Naidu and Lokesh. Amidst all this, it is the Telugu language that is getting a beating, even as ministers and their rivals continue to harangue each other.
TELUGU STATES COMPETE TO LAUNCH AMBEDKAR STATUE
There is no denying that Dr B.R. Ambedkar is one of the greatest icons in the country. The man who gave India its Constitution is revered and celebrated across the nation, and Andhra Pradesh too has decided to join in paying homage to a visionary who millions swear by. AP has decided to do so by erecting a 125-foot-tall statue of Dr Ambedkar in the heart of Vijayawada in Swaraj Maidan, something on the lines of what Telangana state is doing in Hyderabad by the side of Hussainsagar. If Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has his way with the plans for the statue, then it will be unveiled on April 14 next year on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti. So, a delegation of AP ministers and officials left for New Delhi and inspected the work being done on the statue to check on the progress of the work. If all goes well, both Telugu states can boast of the tallest Ambedkar statues soon.
MLA IN SOUP AFTER PRESENTING FAKE CHEQUE
Wedding presents, as everyone knows, can sometimes bring a pleasant surprise, particularly to those receiving them. But then, at times, they backfire too, as Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, the YSRC MLA from Visakhapatnam South, has learnt. There was even a cheque for Rs 1 lakh involved, which sadly turned out to be a dummy. The wedding too that he presided over turned out to be a contentious one landing Kumar, who was hoping to make some quick inroads into a community in his constituency, in some pretty hot water. The occasion was a wedding he presided over the other day near the busy GVMC office in Vizag. Apparently hoping to score some brownie points with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Kumar gave away a dummy cheque for `1 lakh from the yet-to-be-launched YSR Shadi Tofa scheme to the bride and the groom. The problem was that the cheque was a dummy, and what followed was worse, with the heads of the Jamia mosque lodging a formal complaint with the Two Town police seeking action against the MLA under Section 295A of IPC for hurting the sentiments of Muslims, after coming to know that the bride and the groom were from another community and were biologically related. Wedding gifts, as we said before, can spring some nasty surprises. Just ask Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, the YSRC MLA from Visakhapatnam South.
