As government decrees go, this could be one of the unkindest. It is a well-established fact that government schools in Telangana state for most part, are in a pathetic state. Many lack basic needs, drinking water, toilets, benches, and of course teachers. And then there are the students attending classes without textbooks, and notebooks. It is not uncommon to see good Samaritans trying to fill these gaps, especially with respect to distributing textbooks, notebooks, or school bags to those who don't have them. But recently, upset at the visuals of folks doing this regularly across the state, the Telangana state government recently issued a strange order to all District Education Officers that such donations are now banned unless permission is sought from “higher-ups”. Apparently, the government feels that images of school kids without books is damaging its prestige and most distributions are the handiwork of opposition parties seeking to gain mileage before the Assembly elections. The orders, according to a little birdie, resulted after several ruling BRS leaders complained that some opposition leaders were turning the schools into a political mileage platform.
NANI IN A MOOD TO FIGHT
Even the best sometimes lose their cool. Such appears to be case with former minister and YSRC MLA Perni Venkataramaiah alias “Nani” who set the party tongues wagging furiously with his sudden outburst against the AP government recently. His sudden angry call for a protest with ZPTCs and MPTCs in front of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s house over the absence of Eluru district collector Prasanna Venkatesh and officials at the zilla parishad meeting, raised eyebrows in YSRC and among officials. Afterall, the fate of those who said stuff like this in the past is well-known with Jagan cracking down on them. The question now doing the rounds is why did Nani, who earlier was information and public relation minister in Jagan’s Cabinet 1.0 suddenly decide to rebel against the powers that be.
SRIKAKULAM DEO ABSCONDS AMIDST TEACHERS’ UPROAR
With the smartphone becoming ubiquitous, life may have become easy for many, especially those who cannot keep away from these gadgets. But not falling into this category are officials in Srikakulam district who are racking their brains on whether to follow rules for transfer of school teachers, or follow recommendations sent by a minister via his mobile phone. Of the 7,500 teachers in the district, some 4,800 have been transferred so far but the minister sent a list in an XL sheet with desired destinations details and recommendation letters. This was enough to scare the DEO into taking leave and disappear from the office even as teachers’ union leaders threatened that they would go to court if rules were not followed.
YSRC UNFAZED BY COLOUR-CHANGING DESERTERS
Changes in home turf, especially political ones, are always a challenge for a political leader, and if that happens to be the Chief Minister, even a minor event gets magnified. And so is the case with Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy whose political backyard, so to speak, has seen some desertions from the YSRC recently in the form of four MLAs, including prominent figures Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy. The YSRC is now confronted with a more pressing situation in Kadapa district, Jagan’s bastion after Meda Vijay Sekhar Reddy, brother of Rajampet YSRC MLA Meda Mallikarjuna Reddy, met with Telugu Desam party Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu. Some YSRC leaders are worried that the Meda brothers may be heading to the TD, after all they came to YSRC from the TD and this time, may be heading back “home”.
PAWAN KALYAN ENJOYING THE POLITICAL LIMELIGHT
Jana Sena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan should be a happy man. He got his party’s glass symbol back recently. He is not letting any party leader or follower chip in with the costs of his “Varahi” yatra leaving him with no obligation to anyone, a fact that has rattled even some of his die-hard followers. And the other day, he was in Delhi attending the NDA meeting, followed with more meetings with BJP’s top brass. Anything he touches makes news, is the belief now, especially after his confrontation with Srikalahasti circle inspector Anju Yadav propelling the female police officer into prominence and becoming a topic of discussion across the state, earning her unexpected online fame. The officer, who was seen slapping a Jana Sena activist during one of their protests, saw Pawan react to her actions — saying that he would complain against her to the higher police authorities.
BEYOND THE OBVIOUS SOCIAL MEDIA
While most political leaders and officials are figuring out how to increase their Twitter following and wondering if it is worth joining Threads, or how to augment engagements of their Instagram or Facebook posts, Telangana state Director General of Police Anjani Kumar has quietly gone beyond the obvious. A big hit with LinkedIn with his posts sharing real experiences, inspirational messages and meaningful exchanges, Anjani Kumar’s LinkedIn community proved extremely useful during the recent rains and deluge. Calmly sharing useful information of utility for most of his contacts and followers, he gave them courage on how to go about on a rain-hit day. Afterall, for the former police commissioner of Hyderabad, who handled a global crisis of unprecedented nature and scale during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, what is a bit of a rain?
AP’S BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR’S COMEBACK BITTER
For many a critic in both Telangana state, and Andhra Pradesh, last chief minister of united AP N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, is often a punching bag with many a sobriquet, among them, “Bahadur Shah Zafar of AP”. After quitting the Congress, starting his own, and then being away from politics, he managed a kind of comeback after joining the BJP in AP. But his attempt to make a public speech in Hyderabad at the BJP Telangana state party office did not go well. For one, it is a lesson to all non-resident AP politicians who think they can operate successfully in Andhra Pradesh being based in Hyderabad — it does not work. Former Tollywood star and BJP senior leader Vijayashanti walked off in protest against the presence of Kiran Kumar Reddy. For the former cricketer-turned-politico, it was a case of hit wicket.
