Weekend Comment by RK

Published in ANDHRA JYOTHY as KOTTA PALUKU on 22-05-2013 

“Human beings are fast disappearing from this world”- Ballad Andasri wrote those lines long back. “Relationships, affections are becoming rare”- Supreme Court Bench recently observed. Love, Pity, Generosity are becoming rare qualities in this modern world. There were sons who killed their parents for not giving money for liquor. The corporitisation of education sector has vicious affect on society. Because of it human relations lost their relevance. Parents, Corporate Educational institutions, who are in the ranks race- forgetting their role as mentors of  future generations. Everything is becoming money. Forget  about thinking about  other  people, nobody has time to think about their own blood brothers.

Recently in a cow shed owned by  Simhadri Appanna Devasthanam, hundreds of cows died of hunger. Many people might have felt bad about it but no body has time to think about that event. Probably we are asking too much,   because the persons who don’t have time to think about welfare of his  brothers, cannot think about cows.Indiais a Karma Bhumi,  and here we revere cow as Goddess. There is a biblical relationship between man and animals. Because of Urbanization, villages became dissolute and present generation don’t know  much about relationship with man and animal. In urban areas we can see lot of people are having dogs as their  pets. But very few people know about the relationship between cows and man. In Simhachalam- along with cows the humanity also died. These cows are offered by devotees to the Lord. If the Devasthanam is unable to feed the Cows, there is no humanity in devastanam employees. The Late Gajapathi Rajas donated thousands of acres to this Devastanam. All these acres were now occupied  illegally. Earlier the cows donated by devotees can roam in devastanam lands freely and graze grass. Now there is no land left. So the Devastanam put all the cows in a shed. The employees are unable to feed the cows. Recently the Devastanam announced that they cannot take cows as donations from devotees.

The reason being they cannot feed the cows. Devotees donated the cows not because they cannot feed the cows. They are donating cows because of their love and devotion towards God. The officials are saying that the income from temples are increasing. If we observe this statement- a question arises in our minds. Can not they afford to feed the cows? If there is a will there is a way. If somebody wants to know the value of animals, one should go to villages. In olden days, animals are part of socio- economic status of a family. People used to take care of their  animals. They used to feed animals. During festival days they used to feed savories to animals. If they are ill, owners used to feel very sad. When compared with buffaloes, cows have higher status in the families.  Cow calves treated like  small children in the family. Even animals show their gratitude towards their owners. If owners sold them due to some unforeseen situations.. they are reluctant to go with new owners. Only persons who lived in villages can understand these kind of feelings. But now villages also changed a lot.  These kinds of scenes are very rare. Now let us come to present day situation. Let it be Vemulavada or Simhachalam. Cows are reflections of devotees love towards their God. Every religion teaches love, humility, generosity. Persons who don’t have these qualities talk about religion. The honor of religion will increase when people practice the teachings of the religion. We don’t know why the minister or the officials are not thinking about alternatives. They used to get income by auctioning the  cows donated by devotees. How can we expect that they will get alternative options. They don’t even think that whether the person who buy the cows in auction will sell them to slaughter houses or at some other place?  There are lot of poor  farmers who are ready to feed the cows. If the government give the  cows to SC,ST farmers they will treat them as Goddesses. They also will get financial benefit by selling the milk. Instead of killing the cows, the officials can think of some alternatives. Until that time they can take serious measures to protect the cows from dying.

TELANGANA.. POLITICS..

Now Let us talk about state politics. After season of political defections, now it is season of corruption allegations. Raghunandana Rao, suspended by TRS leadership recently made serious allegations against Harish Rao and other party leaders. TRS leadership alleged that Raghunandana rao  has been extracting money form the industrialists. Raghunandana Rao challenged this allegation and said that he will release some evidences relating to corrpution charges against some TRS leaders if they won’t withdrew the allegations levelled against him within 48 hours.  After 48 hours, Raghunandana Rao did what he said. He alleged that Harish Rao had  taken 80 lakh rupees from Padmalaya Studios management. He told media that he has more evidence about various dealings of Harish and other leaders  and will reveal these evidences  periodically. Infact these allegations are not new. Raghunandana Rao’s allegations gave credence to rumors. At present Raghunandana Rao is playing the role of Vibhishana. In future some more Vibhishanas may  come out of the party because now TRS is  not a party based on movement. It became a political party. Every politician wanted to strengthen his own party. There is nothing new about it .We cannot say much about it also.

But the problem is with KCR. He don’t want any party to survive in Telangana expect his TRS. Earlier he gave clarion call to all politicians to leave their respective parties and join TRS. Probably he wanted to have monopoly over Telangana Politics. He does not want any other party in existence except TRS. When Rajasekhara Reddy became CM for second time, he tried to demolish TDP and TRS by attracting the leaders from those two parties. Be it movement or politics- monopoly is  undesirable. Now TRS is facing the consequences of this in the shape of Raghunandana Rao. Let us think that all the leaders in TDP and in Congress joined TRS. What is going to happen? The aspring leaders in TRS will be upset. Normally Parties or leaders emerge under two conditons. They emerge when there are no opportunites or when there is a opportunity. Before 1983 there is no Telugu Desam. Because of it Communists, Jan Sangh, Janata Party and independents played the role of opposition and filled the vacuum. Though there is no viable alternative, congress party never got more than 200 seats in Assembly elections.

This means, people will look for alternatives even if there is only one  party. KCR wanted to play mind game with Congress and TDP. So he wooed some leaders from TDP. The reactions were visible when he  started implementing his sketch. The reason is very clear. Now TRS is filled with leaders, who wanted to contest in the next elections. When outsiders joining the party, the leaders in the party are upset. They started exploring different options. When Kadiyam Srihari joined TRS, Sambayya is upset. So he joined Telugu Desam. Probably Raghunandana Rao may also join the TDP soon. When leaders don’t see opportunities they jump to other side. In this play- the sufferer is Telangana movement. The game started by KCR in the name of Telangana movement was boomeranged. If the allegations continued for some more time, if some leaders came out of TRS- the effect will be  on Telangana movement. The people who don’t want any division will take advantage of this situation.  If we observe all these happenings we can say- all the political parties wanted to get political advantage rather than fighting for the Telangana cause. The reason for migration of leaders from Congress and TDP is very clear. They believe that the sentiment of Telangana is in a high note and they can take advantage of that if they migrate to TRS. At the same time the old guard in TRS is looking towards Telugu Desam. Probably they are doing it with a view that in Telangana the only party which can give fight to TRS is TDP. On a nutshell we can say the political advantage is only reason for all these migrations. If they feel, formation of Telangana is their sole aim, they can fight for it. The leaders who are joining TRS from the other can not say that they are not going to contest in next elections. They can not do it. Because they want power and positions. If they feel the Telangana Sentiment is not there, they fly like  birds. The ultimate aim of leaders who are proclaiming themselves as staunch  Telangana fighters and all the others are Seemandhra lankes is to get advantage in the elections.

MINISTERS… STRATEGY

Let us come to state politics. The Party position in state became so precarious that for every two steps forward they are going two steps backwards. Whenever we feel that government is starting functioning smoothly,  they will get a hindrance.  Investigative Agency-CBI is becoming a reason for congress worries. Because of CBI director’s intiative in Railway scam the Railway minister has resigned from his post. Though Bansal is not directly linked to the scam, high command made him to resign from the post. Now  it caught in a tricky situation, in which it has to ask its own tainted ministers in the state for resignation. But according to some sources the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is not keen on resignations. Probably to discuss these issues he stayed inDelhifor three days. But seems there is not much came from this visit. The demand for the resignation of tainted minister is growing day by day. Sabita Indrareddy, Dharmana Prasada rao may have to resign soon. It is better if they resign immediately. Those who want some minimum moral values will say it. A person is not guilty not until his  guilt  is proved  in a court of law- it is a argument put forward by some people. It may be correct legally but ethically not correct. If it is correct, no body will go to jail, until his guilt is proven in the court. Let us take example of Jagan. He went to jail for indulging in corruption.

Even Mopidevi Venkata Ramana is also in Jail. If Darmana or Sabita has no role, why CBI put their names in the charge sheet? For some time let us think- CBI is a tool in the hands of Centre, as opposition alleges. Congress is also in power at the Centre. If the ministers in state has not done any thing wrong, they put pressure on CBI. One thing is very  clear. As far as Jagan Mohan Reddy’s case is concerned, the CBI officers are investigating independently. Because of this they are able charge sheet the ministers in the case. If CBI is not independent, officers cannot charge sheet the ministers. Though the congress is in power at the Center and in the State, the CBI is able to chargesheet the minsters. It means that they have evidence to prove the guilt of the ministers. Given the situation, both has to resign immediately. We have to give importance to rationality in these kind of cases, rather than put forward arguments like influencing the  investigation by the tainted minsters. Seems the ministers are ready to resign from their posts, but the CM is not keen to make them resign from the cabinet. He might fear implications of their resignations. Moreover the CM is already heading a minority government. He might be feeling that the ministers may leave the party if they resign from their posts. The YSRCP is ready to accept these leaders, if they left congress. Because the elections are due in a year, the CM wanted to get along with these ministers for another six months. Because of this the CM may be in power for a year but it is doing irreparable damage to the party. Congress has to give explanation for putting Jagan in jail and allowing his collaborators to go free. Probably because of this reason, congress high command is putting pressure on CM to sack tainted ministers. Probably the Sonia wanted to send a signal to people that they are following the principal of equal justice. In this scenario it is interesting to know whether the CM will win or High command will have it’s final say. Now State Congress is a sinking Ship. If some ministers resign nothing is going to happen.

EVERY BODY HAS A SHARE..

Let us forget this political game for some time and talk about spot fixing in cricket. Once Cricket is known as Gentlemen;s game. Now it became a game played by people for money. “Eleven fools are playing..  eleven thousand idiots are watching the name” is common criticism is there already. It became a rage in all the countries once ruled by English. Cricketers and administrators started minting money using this craze. Because of this a new form of cricket IPL was born. It has no nationality.  Players from various countries were sold in auction. The corporate companies and some individuals will buy them in that auction. They will play for that teams. The immorality starts from auction. The players has to play for the highest bidder. In this kind of play, thinking of morality may  not be correct. Probably cricketers like Srisant is thinking in those lines.

They might be thinking that there is no harm in selling themselves second time. That is why they indulged in spot fixing. Spot Fixing was came in to light after Delhi police  arrested crickets and bookies. Many people including veteran cricketers raised hue and cry over this issues. But people are not at all worried about it. On Friday match in Uppal, many people attended including cinema stars. We are not worried about your  spot fixing or match fixing. We want some entertainment and it is the common refrain from the people. The issue of cricket betting is not today’s problem. Why should we appreciate, encourage  the players who are playing for money? At the same time we should not show our pity towards people who lost money in betting. Everybody is criticizing Susanth and some others because they were caught. But what should be say to the people who made gentlemen game as a money spinning game. What we should tell to government for allowing this game? What we should call persons who made the players to play for the money. It is a waste of time to search for morality in IPL. Everybody has some role in this whole episode.

Weekend Comment by RK

Published in ANDHRA JYOTHY as KOTTA PALUKU on 14-05-2013 

“When you wish that the your enemy should lose one eye- we will lose two eyes..” It is a famous adage in Telugu. The developments in Jaganmohan Reddy’s party- remind us of this adage. He wanted to give a psychological blow to the Congress and Telugu Desam before elections and he started a game. But now it started to boomerang. The reverse exodus in YSR congress in different parts of the state are a proof of this. To damage the Congress and the TDP he invited MLA’s from the both parties to join him, even though it is unnecessary. Because of this- many senior leaders who are already in the YSRCP and hopeful of getting a party ticket in next elections became disgruntled. Some even resigned from the party. Let us take the example of Mr. Bachina Chenchu Garatayya. This ex- MLA joined YSRCP very early and hoping to get an MLA ticket from Addanki constituency of Prakasam district in the next elections. But Jagan invited the local MLA Gottipati Ravikumar to join his party to damage the congress psychologically. But as the two leaders are arch rivals since very long, now Garatayya is disgruntled. Let us take the latest Anakapalli controversy. Former Minister Konatala Ramakrishna is in the Jagan group since he left the Congress. Actually many people were surprised when Konatala joined YSRCP, because he is veru very concise and has a clean track record. Being an ardent follower of Rajasekhar Reddy, Konatala joined hands with Jagan. As Konatala is a very strong leader in Anakapalli Loksabha as well as Assembly constituencies, why there should be a need for his party to search for other leaders?
But Jagan mohan reddy is not a person who thinks like us. That is why he invited Dadi Veerabadra rao, long term rival of Konathala in Annakapalli Constituency. Veerabhadra Rao joined YSRCP in the presence of Jagan’s mother Vijayalakshmi. Naturally, this development created a stir in the party. Konathala was upset with the entry of Veerabhadra Rao into the party. Congress leaders, who are keenly watching these developments immediately sprang into action and started deliberations with Konatala. There are reports that Konatala may leave YSRCP anytime and get back to the Congress. If it happens, it is Jagan who will be the loser. Because no important functionaries of TDP left the party along with Dadi Veerabhadrarao. Dadi was alone in joining YSRCP. Unlike Konatala, Dadi has no base in the masses. Losing Konatala to Dadi is not a smart move on part of Jagan. But Jagan always takes a different route and remains an enigma. Let us come to Konda Surekha couple. When YSRCP was very weak in Telangana region, Konda couple chose to stand by Jagan against all odds. Surekha resigned from her ministership and lost the MLA seat too in the bi-elections. Surekha has a good name in the masses, but her husband Muralidhar Rao is not known for good reasons. Though the then CM YSR was aware of this, he gave them a lot of importance in the Congress party and the government. Moved by this gesture, Konda couple stood by Jagan after the death of YSR. They expected that they will get the same importance in YSRCP too, because they succeeded in giving a good fight to Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Parakala bi-poll. But Jagan has different thoughts. Upset with this, they are waiting for right time to leave the party. The story behind this problem is that- Konda couple wanted to rule the party in entire Wargangal District, but Jagan wanted them to confine only to Parakala. It is very surprising that the couple, who have been sailing with Jagan all these days, were unable to understand his mentality. Jagan wants every leader to be under his control, and doesn’t like them to involve in other constituencies. But no politician likes himself to be cut to size. Normally any political leader worth his salt wants to grow from constituency level to district level, then to the state level. But Jagan never encourages this kind of activity. It is because of his attitude, that his party is now seeing the current exodus.

There are a lot of similarities between TRS and YSRCP leaderships. KCR and Jagan, both seem to be equally megalomaniac. It is the reason that the leaders who enter these parties feel suffocated so soon. Their situation is like a man who is very eager to tie the nuptial knot, but starts repenting soon after entering the wedlock. “We were sleepless till we got into that party. But now we are spending sleepless nights repenting our decision” – complained a defector. So far the best bet to get elected in next elections is to contest from the above two parties. Because of this, many leaders joined these parties, though they don’t have any love or respect for the top leadership of these parties. But now, as the situation is beginning to change, these defectors are in a rethink. In YCP, there are two kinds of leaders. First category of leaders joined the party because of their love towards YS Rajasekhar Reddy. The second joined the party just in the hope of winning the next elections. As the first category leaders were disturbed by Jagan’s behaviour, the second category leaders were worried about their fate if Jagan was not released from jail before the polls. The Supreme Court’s adverse order on Jagan’s bail plea and the Judges’ remarks doubled their worries. They are now in rethink. The Supreme count, during Vijaya Sai Reddy bail petition hearing , found fault with the Lower court and High court for the reasons cited by them for granting him bail. It also ordered the lower courts not to commit those kind of the mistakes. The Supreme Court’s observations can be a hindrance for Jagan too, in getting bail in the future. Supreme Court even commented that economic offences are more severe in nature than murders. As these comments can have a discouraging affect on the lower courts, YSRCP leaders are little hopeful about Jagan getting bail even after four months. The internal bickerings within the party, and denial of credentials to senior leaders to settle them, is only making things worse. While YSR’s daughter Sharmila is busy with her long Padayatra, her mother Vijayalakshmi, who was confined to the four walls when YSR was alive, is at a loss to deal with the situation. When a crisis arises, a top leader can handle the situation with ease. But we cannot expect the same from his family members. Recently when Sharmila was on her Padayatra in Khammam district and the followers Jalagam Venkatarao created some havoc, she had to remain a mute spectator. After the denial of bail to Jagan by the Supreme Court, Vijayalakshmi tried to infuse some confidence back into the cadres, but seemingly in vain. The Congress and the TDP have now plunged into the action to cash in on the situation within YCP. They are trying to woo back the leaders who left their parties and joined YCP. But we have to see how far these efforts will frutify. In normal circumstances no party wants to rejoin a leader who left the party when it is in a crisis. But in today’s politics there is no room for any values. Needs are paramount to parties. Party bosses are ready to forgive even those leaders who abused them in the worst of the language. Like the corporate colleges that are craving for students and corporate hospitals that are craving for patients – political parties are now craving for leaders from the other parties. TRS and YSRCP are in the forefront of this game. Within minutes of Kadiyam Srihari announcing his resignation from the TDP.. TRS and BJP were in queue to woo him. To justify their immoral behavior, the leaders are now putting forward a new theory. They are saying- whenever they attack and abuse the other parties and their leaders- those words are not from their mouths, but from their party’s. This means, our leaders don’t have any opinions of their own. But the first man to moot this delinquent theory is none other than Dr.M.V.Mysoora Reddy and full credit goes to him. When he left the TDP and joined Jagan, whom he was bashing for a long time, he blatantly said ”Whatever I spoke about Jagan is not my opinion, it is the opinion of TDP only”. Now many leaders are following his example. If we look at the whole scenario, both leaders and political parties are ready to jettison values for needs. Just like in the Jagan party, in TRS also there are two kinds of leaders. One category of people genuinely wanted Telanga State and they joined the party. The second category wanted to win the elections with help of Telangana sentiment. As the category has now surpassed the first category in numbers, genuine Telangana protagonists are feeling suffocated. TRS boss KCR’s recent statements are a clear indication that his party is more interested in elections than Telangana. Instead of drawing a roadmap for achieving a separate state of Telangana, he is asking the voters to ‘perform their duty’ of voting to his party, if they want Telangana. His recent comments in this backdrop have become quite controversial. He openly announced that he will give tickets to only those who have money and it’s better that have nots quit contesting. Let us not ask the question, what is the need for a party to resort to such Mammon worship, whose main fuel is separate Telanga movement? But the question that, what is the fate of genuine Telangana leaders who don’t have money, still remains. Only KCR can answer it. If money is the only criteria in allotting party tickets, only the realtors and businessmen will remain in fray. Normally they don’t want a separate Telengana because, their businesses in and around Hyderabad will flourish only in a united state. KCR should tell the people how he is going to achieve a separate state with the leaders who do not believe in separate Telengana. Genuine Telengana leaders are very upset with KCR’s remarks. They joined TRS with the aim of achieving Telangana and with the hope of a brighter future within the party. But KCR let them down. Because of this, some leaders started leaving TRS to join other parties. As the elections approach, we can see more and more leaders leaving their own parties and abusing their former bosses in the worst language possible. The people should be prepared to witness all this drama.

After the Karnataka victory, the statements made by some congress leaders in Delhi and Hyderabad made people laugh. They shamelessly claimed that the people of Karnataka voted against corruption, without any concern for what people might think. Despite the fact that the UPA-2 regime is facing innumerable corruption charges, they find the courage speak about corruption. In Karnataka the Congress came to power because the people were fed up with the corrupt BJP government and Yeddiyurappa helped Congress by splitting the BJP vote. But Congress leaders are unwilling to acknowledge this fact and claiming themselves to be clean. The number of corruption scandels surfaced at Delhi in the present UPA regime, is much much more than any other government in independent India. We can understand gravity of the situation by PM Manhomnan Singh’s remarks that ” We don’t know whom to trust”. Even after Supreme Court’s proactive role in passing severe strictures on the tainted leaders, many new corruption scandals are surfacing. There are two reasons for this. First, need for money has increased manyfold. Second, people are ready to support the corrupt on the basis of caste, religion and region. Let us discuss the first one. Now a days the need for money has increased leaps and bounds not only for the common man but also for the political parties. Because of this morality has lost its relevance. People are feeling as if corruption is their birth right and it is necessary for survival. Because of economic reforms consumerism has increased. Everybody wants to indulge in luxuries. To indulge in luxuries they need money. To get money they are indulging in corrupt practices. The rags to riches stories of the men next door are inspiring them. Once upon a time in Hyderabad, Benz Car was a status symbol and a rarity. Now every luxury brand can be seen on Hyderabad roads. Not only cars, some people are buying aircraft also. Benz became most common passenger car today. People are thinking about Rolls Royce and Bently, but not thinking of their affordability and necessity. Along with this- the brand culture also percolated deeply into the society. People are given respect on the basis of the brands they wear. Rulers are the main culprits in this whole episode. They made their policies as if economic reforms means consumerism and Mammon worship. Because of these policies, the whole economy of the country was into a danger. Corruption, which was once in thousands, lakhs and crores has now reached billions and trillions. Let us come to political parties. They started making false promises to the people and distributing crores of rupees to them as bribes to come to power. On one side they say that corrruption increased many fold. On the other side they spent thousands of crores in Karnataka elections. The question is how they are getting this money? There are very few people who sell their own properties for contesting elections. For most of them the gameplan is to loot public money, stash a part for themselves, and circulate a part for winning polls. The line between desire and greed wiped out completely. The PM Manmohan’s comments about the situation in the country are very alarming. The present situation is that nobody believes an honest person, and an honest person believes that he cannot survive like this any longer. When the Prime Minister of our country himself expresses his inability in this regard, who will save this country? Do we have to believe that Manmohan, who is one of the finest economists in the world, don’t know the real reasons for this situation? Why he is not able to do anything about it? He is too puzzled that he does not know whom he can believe among his ministers. The BJP leaders, who are now accusing the Congress party, can say that they will stay away from corruption if they come to power? It is just a blame game between Congress and BJP. If Manmohan singh is really concerned about the present scenario first he has to call for all party meeting to discuss about ways to reduce the influence of money in the country. Political parties have to focus on the question of how to reduce election spending. Though the UPA government at the centre is not in comfortable majority, it is surviving because no political party wants to go for the election and spend billions of rupees. Most of the MP’s are not sure of their re-election. This is true for all the parties. That is why no political party wanted an early election. The growing influece of money in politics is throwing a challenge to the very survival of political paries. All parties should come forward to bring some election reforms to curb the influence of money. But who will tie the bell? Many political leaders complain in private about huge expenses for elections. But they never come forward to reduce the money power. By reducing campaign time along with reducing money and liquor power in elections – we also can reduce the need for money. When there is no need for billions and trillions to fight elections- the political parties can act on their own. There is no need to dance to the tunes of big industrial houses and middlemen. At the same time the government should initiate measures to decrease the consumerism. When people don’t crave for luxuries, the need for corruption decreases. There is another way for it. If the govenrment increases taxes on imported goods substantially, the middle class people won’t think about them. Now there seems to be a competition among classes. The middle class people want the luxuries of the rich. The lower middle class wants the middle class lifestyle. It became a vicious circle. We don’t know whether congress will come to power in 2014. We don’t know whether Manmohan singh will become PM for another term. Keeping this reality in view, Manmohan should take steps to curb the importance of money in our society. If he does that, he will get a place in history. Otherwise honest people will become an endangered species and perish. If we make our laws and our institutions independent- it will bring some change in our society. Let us take the example of cine hero Ramcharan Teja. His bodyguards attacked two techies. When the duo went to police station to give a complaint, the police discouraged them not to lodge a complaint. This is quite contrary to the situation in Britain. The Deputy Speaker of House of Lords was arrested by police immediately, when a gay accused him of rape. Let us wish that law will take its own course in the same way in our country also!

Weekend Comment by RK

Published in ANDHRA JYOTHY as KOTTA PALUKU on 5-5-2013 

The condition of the Congress Party in the State is like committing a mistake and then allowing itself rectifying it. As the Party’s winning chances in the ensuing Assembly elections are very bleak, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has started announcing some new schemes as a last resort. And as if announcing new schemes in itself is a crime, some ministers have started making provocative remarks against the Chief Minister. Some ministers have even gone to the extent of forming in to a dissident group. But there should be some issue to say yes or no. Instead of making a sincere effort to put some life into the Congress, which is on life saving system, attacking CM who is making some effort to save the party, is almost suicidal. Why are the Ministers angry with the CM? Their reason is that he announced some schemes without consulting them and went ahead unilaterally. .

Yes, there is a mistake on part of the CM too, of course. He should not have announced the schemes without consulting his Cabinet colleagues. He is not like YS who was all powerful. The drawback in Kiran Kumar Reddy is that he does not believe nor trust anybody. Because of this attitude all his efforts to put the Congress back on the track are going in vain. Let us focus some light on the dissident Ministers. Except Botsa Satyanarayana, no other Minister appear to be thinking about the well being of their Party. Not even in their dreams they try to criticise Jaganmohan Reddy. But they spit the fire on CM, who began criticising Jagan of late.

It is no wonder if there is dissidence in the Congress party. But when YSR was the Chief Minister, for the first time the word dissidence completely disappeared from the Party lexicon. No Minister or leader ever dared to question YSR on any of his decisions. We keep hearing the woes of some Ministers that they have signed wherever they had been asked to and they were not aware of and they have nothing to do with any behind the screen activity. The question is how the Ministers got the courage now, which was conspicuous by absence earlier.

Of late CM has been going public with various new schemes. The schemes, may or may not, ensure the expected returns. But still one should appreciate that the CM has at least initiated some steps to save the Party. Wonder is even this small effort became a butt of ridicule. The dissidence started when the CM announced the ‘Bangaru Thalli’ Scheme. The argument of the dissident Ministers is that these schemes and the publicity being given to them would rather benefit CM and not the party. Every Chief Minister wants to strengthen himself politically. How can Kiran Kumar Reddy be an exception? Whoever occupied that seat would naturally think on those lines. Some how most of the Chief Ministers simply forget the primary fact that taking one and all with them would really make a difference. Most of the Chief Ministers tend to seek credit for every good scheme that they have introduced.

Any way, Kiran Kumar Reddy need not be criticised for the schemes as such, except squarely holding him responsible for not consulting his Cabinet colleagues while announcing such vital issues. Some of the leaders in the Party are unable to digest the criticism of dissident Ministers. Even if the matter is taken to the notice of the Party high command, who is to take action against the Chief Minister, particularly when the Party itself is faced the peril of falling rocks.

They can not change the Chief Minster at this stage, as the elections are due in a year. At the best they advise the Chief Minister to take all the Cabinet colleagues into confidence. Otherwise, these dissident Ministers themselves could meet the CM and ask him to consult them before going public.

For example, let us take up Bayyaram issue. The Chief Minister in his own inimitable style replied to the comments of TRS President K. Chandrasekhar Rao. But it is surprising that Jana Reddy, a senior Cabinet colleague, ridiculed the comments made by the CM. How can anybody justify the comments of Jana Reddy where in he said if anybody counters the KCR’ statement of KCR that he will create an earthquake, that would amount to anti-Telangana sentiment? As a matter of fact because of the Congress leaders KCR has become powerful in Telangana. Telangana Congress leaders behave as if the opponents are better than their own. There are cutting off the branch of the very tree that they sat on by not differentiating between Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Telangana sentiment. Telangana Congress should at least realise after the failure of the Medak Bandh call given by Telangana leaders against the comments of CM on KCR.

Congress leaders always boast that they are blessed with more democracy in their Party. This is the case whenever the voices of dissidence came out in the open. One will be happy if these voices help the party. If it gives one more blow to the already shrinking Party then one should think about it. CM Kiran Kumar Reddy should also take all his colleagues into confidence if he wants his schemes to benefit the public. If he feels otherwise, all his schemes go awry.

Why is this race?

Why both the ‘powers that be’ and the ones that wish to be the ‘powers that be’ are announcing various schemes in these days? Can the treasury support these schemes financially? Where will the competition lead the state with all these unpractical and unrealistic schemes? Why all the political parties hell bent on squandering the public money? Who gave them the power? People should question the political parties that announce these schemes, which involve crores of rupees. Unfortunately even the people are falling a prey to these gimmicks, as they want everything for free. The political parties are announcing these schemes taking advantage of this mindset. Who will take responsibility if the politicians squander away all the public money, in the name of welfare schemes?

When the Government started paying the fees, even the unqualified too joined Engineering courses. Taking advantage of this trend, hundreds of new Engineering colleges sprang up in the State. Now everybody realised the idea behind it. Thousands of Engineering students who joined these Colleges are now without jobs. Who will provide jobs for them? As their dreams of landing in jobs with fat salaries shattered, they are becoming antisocial elements. What will be the reply of the politicians like Jaganmohan Reddy and Vijayalaxmi who asked “cant the poor study Engineering?” It is the responsibility of the Government to help those who have the merit but do not have the financial capacity. But if it wants to help one and all regardless of the merit criterion, it will definitely damage the entire society.

The YSRCP leaders boast that YSR had implemented all the welfare schemes up to the optimum level. What is meant by optimum level? Is it implementing the schemes even to the unqualified? Is it increasing the number of White Ration Cards from one crore and odd to two crore 18 lakhs? Public money is going drains. Unless this is stopped all the efforts to increase the revenue will be in vain. There are more than one crore bogus white ration cards in the state. If the Government can remove the bogus cards, it can help many more needy people with these funds. But the Government will not venture to remove the bogus cards. Even if it does, the opposition parties immediately jump to their feet to halt the process. After all, this is public money! Political Parties have been habituated to spend public money liberally on public for their own selfish ends. Earlier they used to spend donations being given by industrialists and the businessmen in elections. Now the situation got changed. On one hand, they spend the money on unqualified in the name of welfare schemes and on the other, pay the bills of contracts from the State treasury to the contracts who in turn bear the election expenditure. That means the State exchequer is paying the entire election expenditure of the candidate indirectly.

Besides the money being drained off on various schemes, they have diverted more than five thousand crores in the past five years for the election expenses. They just increase the estimates of various works and extract the money from these works. The Arogyasri is the best example for that. Both the ruling and opposition knew well that this scheme is being misused. But nobody bothers to prevent the same from being misused. Some of the private hospitals came into existence only for this scheme. The Government, of late, has taken decision to increase the fee collected by the private hospitals. Under this new scheme each family can enjoy the health services up to Rs 2 lakhs. As the fee is being increased the private hospitals will charge at least Rs 1.30 lakhs for an operation. As a result, the family of the patient will have only Rs 70 thousand with them. The gullible people who are under the influence of Arogyasri are unable to understand the setbacks of this scheme.

The downfall of the Government started with the introduction of Arogyasri. They are unable to create minimum facilities in the hospitals. Nobody equals with Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in encashing the weakness of the poor.  With an aim to help even the poor to get corporate level medical facilities, he proudly announced the scheme. He does not bother about whether it is corporate or government hospital as long as gets it freely. Rajasekhara Reddy encashed the craze of the poor on

Corporate treatment. At the end of the day Corporate Hospitals benefited out of the scheme while the Government Hospitals lost their face. As the government neglected the Government Hospitals, the treatment has become costly in the State.

Even the people with a salary of Rs 50,000 have to depend upon the Arogyasri cards for the operations in corporate hospitals. That is why people are looking at the Government for each and every thing. And sensing the mood of the people, the political parties have started announcing the schemes, which could eat away the public money. There must be some balance between development and the welfare. Now that it has been missing in the State. The leaders of political parties themselves admit that they are showering all these sops only to win the elections. Even the TRS, which calls itself as activist party, admits that it is unable to exempt itself from this rat race.

But how far can they run? That is the question here. Don’t the parties have the responsibility for the future? Who gave them the power and rights to squander the public money in the name of welfare schemes? In the UK, the economists advise the political parties before the latter make election promises. The political parties in that country keep the future of the country in the mind before making any promise to the people. That’s what is needed here too. Of late the political parties in our state tend to believe that capturing power is important rather than the implementation of the schemes that they promise. Some amendments are needed in the People Representation Act to make the politicians accountable for their promises. The Election Commission should cancel the recognition of the political party if it failed to keep its promises. Only then there will be a full stop to this Tsunami of false promises.

Now the political defections have become the order of the day in the state. It is but natural that some leaders jump the fence at the time of elections. We have seen the cases of some political leaders who do not have the hope of getting the ticket for their party to defect to some other promising party. It is not the case now. Leaders defect only to the winning parties. The case of senior leader of TDP Dadi veerabhadra Rao is the best example for that. So many leaders defected to Jaganmohan Reddy’s party recently. We can ignore these cases. But Dadi, known as mastaru, has earned a name for himself both in the party and in the public. Dadi was first in line to join TDP when NTR gave that clarion call to the leaders to join his Party at the time of its inception. He continued to be with NTR, even when Chandra Babu Naidu took the cudgels on. Dadi remained with NTR till he breathed last. He joined Chandrababu only after NTR’s death. Dadi is one political leader who believed and practiced values and honest politics.

Everybody was stunned when he announced his joining hands with Jaganmohan Reddy, who is the symbol and personification of insurmountable corruption. Till yesterday Dadi as the leader of TDP in Legislative Council, unleashed choicest verbal attack on Jagan for his corrupt actions. Even his followers bitter about Dadi’s decision to join Jagan’s party. He should have remained quite with TDP some more time or should have joined Congress. His followers never expected that a non-corrupt politician like Dadi would join Jagan’s party in such haste.

His son Dadi Ratnakar, who was with Chandrababu all along the Padayatra joined Jagan’s party once Chandrababu reached Hyderabad after completing his yatra. One Industrialist felt that if this kind of defections take place in Companies too, what would be the fate of those companies? ”Nobody can do any business” was his cryptic comment. His agony can be understood. Winning at any cost is very important in politics. But money is important in business. If anybody defects to some other company or passing on some vital information to the rival company, what would happen to the Company and its business? The reason that Dadi is giving for his exit from TDP is an internal matter of the Party. So nobody needs to comment on that. But Dadi’s explanation of joining Jagan’s party only after getting suitable answers from Jagan for his questions is all the more ridiculous. But people really felt aghast and their mind went blank after listening to what Dadi had said after meeting Jagan in jail. Jagan looked all-powerful to his eyes. After seeing Jagan in Jail he felt like he is seeing God. That was why he has seen divinity in Jagan in whom till the other day he has seen the devil. People who listened to Dadi’s comments felt detested. Added to that Dadi said that Jagan whom he has seen is different from what he was expected of.

With these comments Dadi has lost all the respect till now that he commanded. Every body knows in Jagan’s party that they should listen what Jagan says and nobody should dare to question him. Even Dadi should be aware of it as he has more than three decades of political experience. Dadi, who felt disrespectable to say that he is going to meet Jagan in Chanchalguda jail, said he would meet Jagan in Hyderabad! What is he expecting from Jagan? When this question came for discussion at the Andhra Jyothy Central Desk, some body jokingly said that Dadi might have asked him for a particular seat and another particular seat for his son. Why an honest leader like Dadi want to Join hands shamelessly with a dishonest person like Jagan? Are the people also responsible for these things? We have to answers for these questions.

In one way people are also responsible for this kind of developments. Even though it is not yet proved legally that Jagan is corrupt, still people believe that he is corrupt. Some people wanted Jagan’s leadership. So the leaders like Dadi feel that why should they lag behind when people wanted it. People might come and go into and out of political parties. The Dadi’s episode drives the people to rethink about the value system dogging the politics. People have to decide what sort of leaders and what sort of politics they wish to see prevail. People have to realise that there is no use in criticising the politicians and lamenting for the degradation of values, when they themselves are not behaving with discretion and responsibility. Do you think the leaders of Dadi stature would join Jagan’s party if the people do not honour it? Expecting some positive results Dadi sacrificed his values. The people have to decide whether they should encourage the leaders who sacrificed the values for the sake of a seat. Let us wait and see…..

Weekend Comment by RK

A Telugu proverb says if you say the truth you will become enemy to all. The politicians, preferably the leaders lke TRS Chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao will never like or accept the truth. That was why he fumed at the Weekend Comment (KOTTA PALUKU in Telugu) of last week. Even the extremist leaders tried to correct themselves when some one pointed out the mistakes in the style of functioning of their movement.. But His Exalted Highness KCR does not like the democratic principles. KCR, who imbibed the qualities of a despot, name the people who oppose his actions as anti-Telangana and Seemandhra slaves. On the same lines he tried to brand Andhra Jyothy too as Seemandhra paper.

Every despot will have some sycophants around him. Their preconditioned duty is to attack those who criticise their boss. If the despot lost his power, they will be the first people to cross over to another boss. As KCR did not have the ground to clarify any of the points expressed in last week’s ‘Weekend Comment’ he started mouthing choicest abuses, which are very exclusive to him. It has become a fashion now a days to brand any media as Seemandhra Media if it criticised KCR or his Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Was it not the same media that these people brand as Seemandhra Media that actually provided fillip for the Telangana Movement when it got off twelve years ago? Unlike today, KCR did not have his own Channel at that time. KCR knows what sort of an anarchist he is and what sort of mistakes he committed. That is why he uses Telangana sentiment as his shield to stop people who point out his mistakes.

He tries to convince the people that criticising TRS policy tantamount to criticising the Telangana sentiment. For that he uses the word Seemandhra Slaves. For that maater, what is the meaning of Telangana Sentiment? That should be clarified first. Demanding a separate Telangana State will naturally become Telangana Sentiment but how can it be that carrying the KCR & Co on our shoulders become the Telangana Sentiment? Where is the necessity to get a certificate from KCR & Co to become a Telangana activist? But still KCR tries to convince himself and the sycophants around him that the real Telangana activists are those people who praise and support him.

As a matter of fact, umpteen number of people have been fighting for Talangana in their own way in all these years. But the credit of taking the movement to the present level certainly goes to KCR. But at the same time, he is also the main hurdle to achieve separate Telangana State. KCR who said that formation of Telangana is possible only through a movement, later claimed that it can be achieved only through lobbying. As the Elections are fast approaching he changed his tack once again and says Telangana can be achieved only through numbers around votes and seats.

Let us see the reality behind this statement. Either Congress or BJP has to decide on separate statehood for Telangana as they are the national parties capable of forming a government and taking the decision at the apex level. As the Congress is dilly-dallying on this issue, the same has to be taken up by only BJP. This party already promised that as soon as they came to power, Telangana will be granted. Now the question is why should anybody support TRS in place of BJP for Telangana State? Now KCR says that if his party can get 100 Assembly seats and 15 Lok Sabha seats he would have a greater say in the formation of the Government and that he can very well be in a comfortable zone to further press for the separate State.

Instead this round about, if the people directly vote for BJP, they can as well get the State. If any body puts a question like this, KCR & Co would reply that earlier also its been promised the same but could not keep the word. True. But where is the guarantee that it won’t be repeated? It may be a reality only then when such a situation so becomes true if BJP would form the government only with the TRS support. If that is the case, why not directly vote for BJP and elect their candidates to the House? Even the BJP would in such a position to concede the demand for separate Telangana only if the other alliance partners agree so. Retaining power at the Center is important for them. No Party, even BJP, could afford to forego or sacrifice the power for the sake of Telangana. So the issue of Telangana will be decided only on the equations after 2014 elections. Nothing will happen even if TRS gets 100 Assembly and 15 Lok Sabha seats. If at all, the only difference could be that the word of KCR will carry some weight because of this numerical strength.

A leader must behave like a father. The leader should guide the people as a father does to the children. When the leaders go against this principle, it is the responsibility of the media to check them. It will be a crime on part of media if it keeps mum when the leaders are out to shower false sops to the public. KCR is bullying one and all in the name of Telangana sentiment all these days might have thought that he can apply the same policy to Andhra Jyothy. But that is next to impossible in our case. People of this State are well aware of our commitment and candidness. Not that KCR does not know of. Who will digest when somebody is ready to expose one’s hypocrisy?

Let us take up the trends in Telangana movement for a discussion here. Several movements have come up not only in our country, but elsewhere in the world also. No where in the world did people commit suicides in the cause of the movement, as happens in case of Telangana Movement. The leaders of the movement are responsible for all this. Even though they do not have any clarity regarding the Telangana State, the leaders raised hopes among the people on the declaration of separate Telangana. When that was not happening, youngsters are committing suicide, out of frustration and depression. This pathetic situation is taking place as the leaders like KCR are going on promising the people that the standard of living of the people is poised for progression on the social ladder. The promises include creation of more than one-lakh jobs for the youth, if the Telangana State is formed.

Let us take up the case of new jobs here. Is it true that more than one-lakh jobs will be ready if Telangana State is formed? The leaders who are making these promises as a regular dossier know pretty well that it is a big lie. But the leaders like KCR who are living on these false promises continue to make these statements for their own selfish ends. And the Telangana youth that are frustrated with the delay in getting Telangana are committing suicides with a feeling that they won’t get jobs in the near future. The trade union leaders like Swami Goud agree that it is impossible to create one-lakh jobs in Telangana districts even if Telangana is formed. At the most, ten thousand jobs can be created in the Secretariat or other Government offices in Hyderabad. Is it not cheating the youth? Can KCR, who wishes to be called as Telangana Gandhi, say anything to this?

Of course we can not compare, but still, the leaders who led the Independence Movement never called upon the people to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the movement, rather they, the leaders themselves sacrificed. Even though the independence movement prolonged for such a long time, not a single person committed suicide. Why because those leaders never spoke hocus pocus like KCR. Almost every leader benefited in every way possible and no leader ever sacrificed any thing for the cause of Telangana.

Very often KCR assured that all the State Government employees would get  the salaries on par with Central Government employees, once the Telangana State is formed. As a matter of fact, the non-plan expenditure is already going haywire with ever-growing packets of the state government employees. Still the leaders like KCR continue to indulge in false promises. Even Chandrababu Naidu is competing with KCR in promising moon to the public.

They might temporarily benefit politically with these promises which are not pragmatic, but in the long run, it would only harm the interests of the gullible public. Even if the people demanded the moon, the leaders should explain them the actual position. KCR’s promise of making the rivers flow in every Telangana district will also come under the same category.

Let us come to his latest hope for 100-Assembly and 15-Lok Sabha seats. With the intent of developing Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) into a political power on its own, KCR has been inviting leaders from all the political parties in the State. We need not comment on it, as it is a political strategy. But the problem lies with the attitude of KCR. In the beginning he embraced Congress and later TDP as butterflies. And later he started feeling those parties as caterpillars. Now he wants everybody treat those parties as such. He expects that the media should boost up whichever party he likes and drop the party dead whichever party he dislikes. That is the trouble with him. It is sheer misadventure on his part to expect media bully to his line of thinking. TRS is different and the aspiration of the people for Telangana is different. Media is not here to serve the whims and fancies of KCR.

Every body agrees that the personal relations and loyalties do not have a place in present day politics. If any body wants to join either TRS or YSRCP, it should not construed that they love KCR or Jaganmohan Reddy. The truth is that they want either MLA or MP seat. Let us take the case Congress MPs. Don’t they know that the Telangana issue should be decided only by the national parties? If they want to defect to other Party, don’t they have BJP, which is promising a separate Telangana State? Can they explain why do they opt for TRS instead of BJP? How can it be possible not to criticise the very building up of political towers for want of votes and seats in the name of Telangana sentiment?

Let us take Bayyaram mines issue. The problem has become more critical as the political parties tried their best to get political mileage out of it and even the Government’s actions also contributed to the problem. When the Vizag Steel Plant applied for 2,000 hectares of mines in Rayadurgam and Obulapuram areas of Ananthpur district, it was the mistake of the Government to issue a memo to process only the three applications in Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar districts in the place of Ananthpur district. Instead of criticising the action of the Government, some political parties started blame game little realising the issue whether it is a memo or G.O. Even after the Vizag Steel Plant clearly stated that it would start an  Integrated Steel Plant along with a Palatisation Plant, the political parties continued the controversy. Is it not irresponsible on part of political parties to continue the controversy? The political parties demanded them that they will allow them to exploit the iron ore only after starting the Plant. And questioned them what is the guarantee that they would start the Plant? How can they question them? How can they doubt a Public Sector Company like this? They must question the authorities only when they did not start the Plant. They have already promised they would start it in a phased manner. Political parties have to trust them. How can they adopt such a stand towards a Public Sector Company?

In the case of Bayyaram everybody believed the lies and doubted the truth. Almost every party used and played the sentiments of the people for their own selfish ends. Even the Ministers also made irresponsible statements which are unbecoming of a Minister. Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao threatened that if they do not agree to transport the iron ore from Bayyaram to Vizag Steel Plant they would stop transporting milk from Andhra region to Telangana area. It is an unnecessary provocation. Can’t Telangana people get the milk if Andhra region did not supply milk to them? Minister Ganta would not have made this statement if he knows the history of Irani Tea. He said that he would not allow supplying gas from KG Basin. How can a minister make such irresponsible statements?

If the leaders from the both regions make such provocative statements for their political necessities what would happen if the people fight with each other? Are the political leaders observing the dangers involved in their statements without taking the facts in to account? Let them say that they don’t care for the lives of the people and they are interested only in their political interests. Then nobody will criticise them for their utterances.  At least the State Government should take the initiative to solve the Bayyaram dispute. The Government can not remain silent on this issue. It is a waste of time to teach the leaders like KCR on nationalism. KCR claims that Sibu Soren who fought for Jarkhand State is his ideal figure. And in what way he is different from Soren. Jarkhand is ruined because of Soren’s selfish political motives. What is the guaranty that the Telangana will not become another Jarkhand in future?

The Padayathtra or foot-march started by TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu seven months back came to an end on last Saturday. The fact is he had taken up this yathra without caring for his advancing age. But the necessity is that he should take up this yathra without caring for his health. It was a now or never situation for TDP. If TDP did not come to power in 2014 elections, its very survival will be doubtful. Well-known strategist Chandrababu has taken up this yathra only to reenergize the sagging Party. No body can say whether this yathra would bring him back to the power or not, but one thing sure that this yathra instilled enough confidence in the cadre. The TDP cadre which was in a bad shape when the YSRCP was in an aggressive position, has regained its strength and confidence with the yathra. But Chandrababu has to take up several political steps to regain his lost eminence.

He has to convince the people with a concrete plan how is going to implement promises he made while in tour. He has to explain to the people his plan of action to put the State back on tracks. He may not get any fresh mileage by criticizing Congress or commenting up on the corruption of Jaganmohan Reddy.  As it was said earlier, he is strength as well as weakness to the Party. But as a President of the Party, Chandrababu did what ever he wanted to do to strengthen it. But the Party is in doldrums in several districts for want of efficient leaders. There are internal bickering in the Party in some districts. The untimely death of Erram Naidu has become a curse to the party. Now Chandrababu has to concentrate on strengthening the party units. The hard work he has put in all these years will go waste if party units are neglected. The immediate challenge before him is to protect the existing leaders and encourage the emerging leaders in the Party from his adversaries.

At the same time, he has to solve the problems cropped up within NTR’s family. Other wise it will influence the party also. Nandamuri Harikrishna and NTR Jr feel that Chandrababu trying to shunt them out to accommodate his son Lokesh in the Party. That is the reason they are not mingling with the party affairs. Chandrababu has to down the curtains on succession issue if TDP has to come to power in 2014 Assembly elections. Chandrababu has to realize what is the necessity of appointing a successor when he is not sure of his own success in the elections. Eve Lokesh has to understand the facts and should take steps to go slow on several party issues. No body knows that how far the party will be benefited by Balakrishna, the party is losing so much with his differences with Harikrishna and NTR Jr.

Taking advantage of these differences, the YSRCP leaders are out to create confusion by printing the photographs of NTR and NTR Jr on the flexies. Every party will have its own political strategy. But the fans of NTR could not digest placing the photo of great NTR by the side of corrupt Jaganmohan Reddy in the plexies. There is no place for right and wrong in present day politics. Every body will do every thing just to get into power. They join any party for that. They use anybody’s photo for this.

Weekend Comment – RK

Published in ANDHRA JYOTHY as KOTTA PALUKU on 19-4-2013

“Many roles to play for the sake of little belly” so goes a popular adage in Telugu. In application of the same, it should be said of party defections for the sake of protecting their posts. Now that the elections are round the corner in a year, the politicians are out to readying themselves to change their political attires at the flick of the moment. In the process they are trying to cover it up on the pretext that they act according to the people wish. Although the Ayaram-Gayaram culture is an age-old practice in our country, our state politics and the behaviour of our politicians are quite disgusting.

Several inexplicable developments have been taking place in the state politics last four years. Nobody knows why a political party emerges. Nobody knows why and when a leader defects. Leaders belonging to the same party do not repose trust in each other. Why all this! Some times even the leaders are unable to open up their minds before their high command. After closely watching the very recent political developments in the State and the statements issued by the politicians one tends to conclude only God save the state and the people. Earlier even the people used to look down upon the leaders who resort to defection. Therefore the leaders would fight shy. Now the situation has changed.  People no longer attach significance to public morale. With it leaders too stopped fighting shy of their own actions. Whenever the leaders defect they now issue a statement incorporating the sentence “as per the wishes of the people…” In the entire episode, the style of functioning of leaders from Telangana area simply elicits an expression of bewilderment in hush with one’s finger on the nose! Its sheer craftsmanship of deception, First lets see the case Manda Jaganndham, Congress MP. He had been an MP on Telugu Desam ticket before the 2009 elections.When the Left parties moved No-confidence Motion against the UPA Government as against the Nuclear deal, Manda voted in favour of government defying the TDP whip. Later he got the ticket from the Congress, and got elected as MP again. With that, leaders like Jagannadham might feel nothing wrong with defection, as people did not object to it. Now that the elections are round the corner, he is now looking for a party that takes care of his victory. He started looking at TRS because of the strong sentiment among Telangana people for own state. Because the supremo of TRS Chandrasekhara Rao needs candidates, they both concluded that this is a safe way for securing mutual benefits. But one needs a pretext for defection, hence Jaganndham simply whipped out a statement that he is ready changing the party if Congress Party fails to make Telangana a reality. But what is amazing is people like jagannatham never mentioned a thing about Telangana when Rajasekhar Reddy was alive! Now that Rajasekhara Reddy is no more, and that Telangana sentiment gained strength past three and a half years, these people have started shouldering up Telangana issue. In other words, leaders like Jagannatham take up Telangana issue only when their need is to win the elections, and not Telangana. They try to reach out yet another party if the issue of Telangana weakens for any reason. Nevertheless, it is idiotic on party of the Congress Party high command that not to realise that these are the same people who would dump them when they dumped another party when the red carpet was rolled out for them.

Let us now turn to K. Kesava Rao who is considered to be a senior leader of Congress party. By the way, anybody can become a senior leader in Congress party, even if he can not command any public support. Now he is issuing statements saying with all the histrionics at his command that he would do anything to get Telangana State. He never dared to utter a word in support of Telangana till Rajasekhara Reddy breathed his last as CM. All of a sudden he became a staunch supporter of Telangana. He speaks as if he was born for the cause of the Telangana State. Does Kesava Rao really have the public support as media projecting him to be? What does it mean to be a senior leader? These questions naturally crop up in the present scenario.

He was a Member of Legislative Council three decades ago. When T. Anjayya was the Chief Minister, he had taken Kesava Rao into his Cabinet and made him Minister of State. Later Rajasekhara Reddy taken the initiative and nominated him for Rajya Sabha and made him the President of PCC. Till then Kesava Rao was holding no post in the party. In the meanwhile, he contested to the Assembly elections and once to the Lok sabha in vain. This is the history of Kesava Rao.

It is very natural for anybody to doubt why only Rajasekhara Reddy initiated steps to offer him posts? Rajasekhara Reddy felt that no powerful leader should occupy the post of PCC President lest his position be challenged. So he worked out a position for Kesava Rao. Let us come to Telangana issue here. Kesava Rao never pronounced his allegiance to Telangana during his tenure as PCC President or Rajya Sabha member. And he never even condemned the statement by Rajasekhara Reddy against Telangana. The High Command even made him the member of Congress Working Committee because of Rajasekhara Reddy. Now that the tenure of the posts was over and as that there is no chance to get another post, he is now championing the cause of Telangana. Kesava Rao always wants to remain as the center of attraction in politics. That is why he claims that “all our Congress MPs sit together and take a decision”, even though he is not an MP now. Congress MPs would also be ready to meet at his residence, as Kesava Rao is sagacious in speaking both Telugu and English simultaneously and fluently, whether or not one understands. Kesava Rao is an dexterous in confusing the media. If any body says anything he has a knack of pushing them back claiming that he was also a journalist. Any way setting it aside, people have to realise why leaders like Kesava Rao never raised their voiced for Telangana when Rajasekhara Reddy was alive. Telangana movement has not started in the last three or four years. KCR has been leading the movement over ten years. The question now is why some of the Congress leaders remember Telangana now, and why not so when they had an alliance with TRS in 2004, and when they contested elections in 2009, on their own without any alliance with TRS. As long as Rajasekhara Reddy served their political and other interests they never pursued Telangana issue. Whether they agree it or not, its true. The same people would be the front runners If the political equations changed in the future. Why KCR all the way visiting the homes of the likes of Kesava Rao and inviting to join his party? Doesn’t he know that this type of people would leave him should the scenario changed? Wrong to presume he did not know of it. Everybody knows everything. It’s only the people who do not know a thing. For now the buck should pass on. Should win maximum seats in 2014 elections. This is the target of KCR. Nobody would guarantee that Telangana would be a reality even after 2014..! – why because leaders like KCR cannot say for sure as to how many of the winners would remain with him. Many MLAs who got elected on TRS ticket in 2009 elections did want to jump into Congress. It’s an open secret. Had only Rajasekhara Reddy lived today, the Operation Akarsh would have been a total success.

There is also no guarantee that the same people who now crossover from Congress to TRS, would not play a round about if UPA formed the Government after 2014 elections. Let us take the examples of the Congress MPs like Rajayya, Vivek, Ponnam Prabhakar whose names are making rounds for possible crossover to TRS. Even though Ponnam was very young, Rajasekhara Reddy appointed him as the Convenor of Congress MPs. Therefore he did not champion the cause of Telangana at that time. Now he has taken up the Telangana issue more than the ones who have been spearheading the moment for Telangana. Its all with an eye the ensuing elections. Another MP – Vivek’s story also goes on the same lines. He never made any wish for Telangana as long as Rajasekhara Reddy was alive. Let us take up Rajayya’s issue. Rajayya who worked as CEO in Warangal Zilla Parishad was caught in the ACB raids. Knowing pretty clearly that he would lose his job, he jumped into Congress and thanks to the grace of Rajasekhara Reddy, he managed to get Party ticket and became MP. Even he now says that he would change the party as per the wishes of the people. Every Congress MP who wants to defect to TRS has had one’s own story. If Jagan’s Party has developed any base in Telangana area they would have definitely joined that party as well. By this we are destined to understand only one thing. Every body is trying to utilise the Telangana issue for one’s own ends. No body bothers if Telangana does not materialise after they won the elections. “So bad that the scenario has deteriorated that we cannot speak to our own party people with open mind. I lose confidence in myself when I see the same people, who come and discuss the party affairs with concern in the morning, defecting to another party the same evening. I have seen defections earlier too, but never have they been so stooped to this worst level” – this was the agony of a leader who shared it with his colleagues. Who should cleanse this when the state politics have been so polluted?

We will see many opportunists in the next elections. People may wonder why Jaganmohan Reddy and KCR and the likes are trying to woo the leaders who do not have commitment or loyalty to the Party, and are out to change the party just like changing a shirt. Well, it’s all part of the political game. The purpose should be served immediately. Future can take care of itself. The present political trend is to play mind game with the opponents. KCR party can do well even if Gangula Kamalakar, TDP MLA from Karimnagar doesn’t join TRS. But the idea behind the defection is to weaken the Telugudesam Party mentally. Even Kamalakar too is not joining TRS out of love for KCR. If he wins next election, then the natural will follow the suit. Here is what appears to have transpired between Jaganmohan Reddy and a VIP prisoner. “Why do you admit leaders from Congress and TDP into your fold? You have the people rallying behind you, any way. You can select some new candidates and see to it that they win the elections”. For this Jagan is believed to have replied that “though their party has been popular with the people at present, one cannot underestimate Congress and Telugudesam Parties, more so Chandrababu Naidu. Given a chance Chandrababu would finish him off politically and that is why he was inviting the people from Telugu desam party to join hands with him”.

When questioned that Chirajeevi too did the same by filling his party with defectors and consequently ruined his own political party, Jaganmohan Reddy is reported to have retorted “Where is the comparison between me and Chiranjeevi? Either Congress or TDP will be finished in the State in the next elections. Then only my party will gain strength. Once we are in power, I will further weaken the Party that still has some strength. No body can, now-a-days, withstand politically without power or money. After the elections, either the Congress or TDP can be uprooted is the current thinking of Jaganmohan Reddy, as revealed to this VIP prisoner.

KCR too thinks on similar lines, more or less. He calculates that if he can mentally weaken the Congress and TDP after encouraging defections from those parties and then win the maximum number of seats, he would have the benefit of sharing the power in the formation of new Government. KCR feels that If his strategy works out, either Congress or TDP only will survive in the State and then only his Party can call the shots. In these strategies and counter strategies nobody wants either the cause of Telangana, or the larger interests of the state, its enough if their political interest is served!

Lets keep the issue of defections aside for now. One feels agitated at the perspective of our political leaders on some key issues. One finds it difficult as to how to define the stand taken by Congress, TRS leaders over the decision of the state government in allocating the Bayyaram mines to Visakha Steels. The criticism by some of these leaders that how can these Telangana mines be allocated to the Vizag Steel Plant, which is in Andhra area is just ridiculous. Our leaders must be mentally ill. Does the Steel Plant belong to Andhra area? Visakha Plant belongs to the Nation. How can any body look at it from a sheer regional angle? Now the Vizag Steel Plant is getting the much required iron ore from Odissa. What will happen if Odissa people question the very supply of the ore to the Steel plant from their State? The oil and ores belong to the entire Nation. They do not belong to any particular region.

Why that much debate… it may be recalled that during a recent ABN Open Debate, when somebody asked the propriety in allotting the gas from Krishna-Godavari basin to some other states, TRS leader G. Vinod, former MP, fumed at him. He told him that the gas resources belong to the nation and not to a particular region. Every body should agree with him. The very survival of the nation and nationality will come under a scanner if anyone thinks otherwise. The Union Government can not start new factories or industries hereafter. Instead of demanding that the natural resources should be equally distributed and the fruits of the resources should reach people, if people start thinking in terms of our region and our State, what will be the fate of the nation? Some private organisations and some private people have taken the iron ore mines in Obulapuram and Ananthpur on lease and made huge money. If the people of Bellary and Ananthpur questioned them as to why did they mine, how can it be answered? We shall revert to the issue of Bayyaram mines later.The opposition parties which questioned the decision of the Rajasekhara Reddy to allocate these mines to Rakshna Steels, demanded the scrapping of the deal with Rakshana Steels and relocate the mines to Vizag Steel Plant. Now the Government did the same thing. People who ridiculed the Government for not having own mines for the Vizag Steel Plant which is in public sector, now criticising the Government for the same reason. The State Government requested the VSP to start an ancillary factory in Bayyaram to create employment opportunities to the locals. Ignoring all these facts, the TRS Legislature Party leader Eetela Rajender warned the Center with dire consequences if it allotted the natural resources of Telangana area to Seemandhra. Ponnam Prabhakar commented that the Bayyaram Steel is the birth right of Telangana.  And then the CPI leaders demanded that the Steel Plant should be started in Khammam district only. Even the Congress MPsV. Hanumantha Rao and Rajayya also demanded on these same lines.

The irrationality will rule the roost when political reasons gained upper hand over the interests of the people. The people demanded that the Bayyaram mines be allotted to Vizag Steel Plant earlier, now criticising the same. How far it is correct to bring the regional aspirations to the fore for each and everything? The State may be bifurcated, or remain united in the future. That is a different matter. Even if the Telangana State is formed, is it possible not to depend upon other States for its necessities? How can our leaders justify their parochial attitude even on the issues concerning the nation?  Now it is regions. Tomorrow it may be districts and then Mandals and villages so on and so forth. What will happen then? There is nothing wrong demanding employment for locals. It is the responsibility of the Government to take steps for that. For that matter, only outsiders have worked as CMDs for the VSP. Can anybody demand that only locals should be appointed as CMD? It is the tendency of the human beings to go wherever they want to in search of employment. Is it possible for the humankind to sustain it self if it limits itself to one region or the other?

Not only people from Andhra region, even the Telangana people migrated to the US and other countries for jobs and other opportunities. For that matter, people from Andhra and Telangana regions migrated to Mumbai in large numbers. When Maharashtra Nav Nirmana members attacked the Biharis in Maharashtra, every body condemned them regardless of the state they belonged to. People damaged this State for their parochial interests to the maximum extent possible. It is the time for them to shed their narrow mindedness. The business and Industrial people have already started worrying about their future in the State. The Telangana issue should remain within the orbit of nationality. You can join any party. Nobody is going to stop you. But don’t bring Telangana issue into each and everything. One need not stoop to that low for the personal and political ends. People have lost faith in the political system. People started hating the politicians. Why don’t the TRS leaders have the common sense, which Vinod has? Politics does not mean only the votes, notes and seats. We don’t have statesmen any way. Even the leaders are on the verge of disappearance from the political scene. Only opportunists remained. Unless people wake up and understand the politics of the present day leaders, people will be at a loss in the long run. If there is no change in the people, the politics will rotten further, beyond repair. In a democratic set up, every good and bad thing is related to the political system. It is the responsibility of the people to save the system from the wily leaders. As long as the politicians take things for granted, there will not be any development in the society.

Weekend Comment by RK 

Published in Andhra Jyothy as KOTTA PALUKU on 13-04-13

So sow so reap. This saying applies very well to the most of the state ministers in against whom cases have been booked in connection with the cases against Jagan (Mohan Reddy), and are now crying wolf. How can they be believed when they put up innocent faces and claim that they had nothing to do with behind-the-scenes except to put an initial as and how the then Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy instructed them to.

The berths, which they hoped to grab and went on signing, are, now slipping away and not just that, prison life too is in store for them. The Ministers may find it hard to digest this, but can anything prevent law from taking its own course of action?

The Ministers are now crying aloud that they became scapegoats for the greediness of Jaganmohan Reddy, but aren’t these the same people who, in those days, behaved at their own whims and fancies caring little for any? Don’t these ministers really knew nothing about the under hand deals as they would like to have everyone believe now? Nevertheless, the public is not ready to repose any trust in such claims. It goes without saying that if they are innocent, so is Jagan! But one thing is for sure – if YSR’s family enjoyed a lion’s share of the benefits accrued from scams, the ministers too got their slice of cake from the larger sin. When the media ran series of stories about corruption at the highest level in the state those days, the same ministers competed with each other to castigate the media. With an astounding reassurance they blindly signed the files with a firm hope that they will be taken care of by YSR. But some Ministers with some fore sight have taken care of themselves with their own precautions. Its as simple as that and its deceitful to claim that they knew nothing of the happenings at that time. 

What’s up about these hundreds of crores of rupees? Why are you doing all this? What will you do with this amassed wealth? – are a few inquisitive questions an industrialist is reported to have asked the then Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy. For this YSR seems to have replied “what can I do if they give me rs 10 cr, when I expect only one? (in return of a favour)”. It happened just like that in those days. But the situation turned topsy turvy now. While their sins clouding them, the ministers, now hapless, putting up innocent face in distress. Every one of these ministers knows for certain in their hearts of hearts whether or not one is benefited for the signatures they put on the dotted line.

One thing is clear. It should be appreciative of YSR that he did not limit the benefits to his family alone. He extended the benefits to his trusted officials too. He used to send the share of his sinful-booty to the residences of such officials even if they did not aspire for it. Let us take the example of his personal assistant Sureedu! People used to tip bills in hundreds (of rupees) to Sureedu when YSR was in the Opposition. But the hundreds became thousands soon after YSR became Chief Minister. When an Industrialist reportedly offered him ten thousands, Sureedu is believed to have shot back “now-a-days the offers are from five to ten”. “You mean lakhs?” the industrialist perturbed in disbelief and asked him, “if so, how much did you amass in these six-seven months?” If an attender like Sureedu promoted himself from earning mere hundreds to lakhs and crores, how could it not be that the ministers failed to get the tip worth for their signatures? It is for certain that all the ministers who are being lined up as accused in the chargesheets filed by the CBI might have had their own share in the sins committed by Jagan. And the sins cannot be just pooh-poohed off. They have to stand before the law for accepting the graft, however small it may be. 

But the entire episode landed the Congress party in trouble. On one hand, here is a government that does not know whether it has the required majority or not, and on the other, the name of each minister cropping up every day in one case or the other. To speak the truth, the tainted ministers should be shunted out of the Cabinet. But the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government is in a dilemma as it positioned itself between the devil and deep sea. If he drops the ministers then they would join hands with Jagan and it will land the Government in to jeopardy. Even if he ignores the pressure from the Opposition to remove the ministers, no body is ready to believe that only Jagan is the culprit unless he takes some stringent action against the tainted ones. 

Elections are due in a year. The Government has just flagged off some welfare measures. The administration has just started going on the tracks. Sadly for the state government the CBI cases are round the corner causing agony. The CBI that has already listed the names of Dharmana Prasada Rao and Sabitha Indra Reddy as accused in the chargesheet, is all set to name some more ministers in the chargesheets to come. In all about five, six ministers are likely to find their names in the list. When the situation cornered him thus, the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy immediately handed over the case to the High command and got a sigh relief. If one is inclined to argue that ministers are not guilty then even Jagan has to be credited with that argument equally. In that case the Congress party should answer queries from the people that how was it possible for Jagan, a person with no portfolio, to do a wrongdoing without any help from the officialdom. 

Now that the names of the ministers have surfaced, even the CBI needs to justify its action. If a person like Jagan with no position in the government has been imprisoned on the grounds that he may influence the witnesses, how come that the ministers are not expected to do the same? How come they are free? And how come they are allowed to be free? – These are the questions that the CBI has to answer. Even the courts of law might shoot these questions. 

So far as Jagan cases are concerned, the CBI officials have been able to investigate them without any pressures. The criticism of the Opposition that the CBI has become a pocket agency of the ruling Congress Party to harass the political rivals may hold water to a certain extent, but it does not hold good in case of the cases being investigated in our State. If either the Union Government or the Congress Party exerted any pressure on the CBI, its likely that the names of the state ministers would not have figured at all in the chargesheets filed by the investigating agency. It can be concluded that the CBI has been investigating the cases freely without any pressure as it has been able to add the names of the names of Ministers as accused in the Chargesheets. 

The Congress leaders who did not utter a word against CBI all the while suddenly started accusing the agency, as it started naming their ministerial colleagues.

But nobody needs to take this criticism seriously. The expected is happening.

No body can stop it from happening. But certain doubts need clarification. Is the Congress Party high command now ready or not to subject their own ministers to the guillotine? What are the alternatives before it in these cases? If it justifies actions of the ministers it will benefit Jagan Party indirectly. If it takes action against the erring ministers, the very survival of the Government will be under the scanner. If it does not remove the tainted Ministers, then it cannot face the wrath from the leaders of

Jagan Party. 

The problem may look a bit critical though, there is only one solution for that. The

Government should remove those tainted ministers from the Cabinet. That is the minimum responsibility of the Governments that claim to be representing the democracy. There are no other options before the ruling Congress Party, which boasts that it would not spare any leader who indulged in corruption. Why the same political party that had asked the Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chouhan, to resign when his name figured in Housing scam, keeps mum in case of the ministers of the State? If the Congress wants to save its face, it should remove the tainted Ministers from the Cabinet. The Court would, any way, decide whether or not they the ministers are guilty. 

These ministers are worried that they may be arrested the moment they are dropped off the Cabinet. But they tend to forget the fact that Mopidevi Venkataramana had been arrested even when he was in the Cabinet. The CBI would arrest the people depending upon the necessity. It is sheer foolishness to think that they would not be arrested if they hold a position in the ministry. The Ministers must prepare themselves to go to jails if their wrongdoing was quite grave nature. Even the Congress should initiate steps in that direction. Congress Party will liberate itself from the accusations of bipartisan attitude towards Jagan only if it treats one and all equally. Contrary to that if the Party procrastinates the issue, the enemy will gain the strength. The tainted ministers are continuing in their positions because of the Congress Party. Can’t the ministers who have been enjoying the positions for the past ten years sacrifice this much for their Party? It is not an internal affair of the Congress party. It is concerns with the law, and its implementation. It is the responsibility of the rulers to convince the people that the law will take its own course. If it does not happen, the laws would lose their relevance and the people will lose faith in the entire system itself. 

Lets leave the issue of ministries aside for a while, our state is now in the grip of a new controversy about owning the leaders who are no more. While the Telugudesam and YSR Congress party leaders are competing with each other on owning late NTR, the Congress and YSR Congress are vying with each other on owning the image of late YSR. With the result, the flexy controversy raised its ugly head in the State. As the Telugudesam party leaders claim that NTR belongs them, the YSR Congress leaders want to use the image of NTR for themselves as NTR belongs to one and all. While the Congress leaders argue that YSR belongs to them both Jagan and Sharmila argue that since YSR was their father, he belongs to their party. 

It appears that people have some trust in the departed souls rather than the leaders who are alive around us. That is true. While Chandrababu Naidu ridiculed for placing NTR photo beside the photos of whom he described as “thieves”, Nandamuri Harikrishna, who belongs to the same Party retorted that what if some body else too used it on the grounds that Telugudesam discarded using it long back. Jr NTR, who did not respond directly when the YSR Congress leaders used his photo in their flexies, took time to clarify his stand that he would remain with Telugudesam Party for life. Any way, even the family members of NTR brought the beloved NTR onto the streets with their own actions and comments. Here the question is- whom does NTR belong to? He belongs to the people. No single party or a single person can own him. The Nandamuri family members may be his successors by way of DNA, but nobody can be his successor politically or in terms of courage that he demonstrated. NTR used to criticise that the Congress party shamelessly follows culture of dynasty. But the so-called successors of NTR also following the same. The members of the NTR family who started the Party on the basis of anti-congress ideology, have now gone helter-skelter with the demise of their party founder. NTR loved and married Laxmi Parvathi in the evening of his life but she chose to join YSR Congress party recently. NTR’s daughter Daggubati Purandheswari and son-in-law Dr Venkateswara rao are with the Congress party. No one knows whether or not Harikrishna who is still with TDP, and Jr NTR who claims to remain with TDP till his last breath, would really be tomorrow. Cracks are now visible in NTR’s family. Both the brothers Harikrishna and Balakrishna are at loggerheads. Harikrishna spewing fire for not allowing his son to grow in the Party. 

Tempers run high for Balakrishna when he hears some one utter the name of the Jr. before him. Unable to resolve these family disputes Chandrababu Naidu engaged himself in Pada Yathra. Both NTR fans and TDP cadre are dismayed at the developments in the Party. They are worried over the possibility of family disputes finishing off the party in near future. Meanwhile, the YSR Congress Party leaders are trying to own NTR. Because they want Kamma votes in the next elections! When NTR was in power he use to pour his anger over YSR day in and day out. They behaved like bitter enemies. Now the leaders who joined YSR Congress say NTR belongs to them. That is how times changed. 

Now here is the issue of owning or disowning the name of Rajasekhara Reddy. The Congress Party, which hitherto has been in dilemma over whether or not to own YSR ever since he met with helicopter accident, finally concluded to own him. But by that time Jaganmohan Reddy has already started his party, placed his father’s photo in its flag and convinced the people that he is the real successor of YSR. Notwithstanding the efforts of Congress, the public has identified Jagan as YSR’s real successor. And the recent developments made it clear that without Jagan there is no YSR Congress, and without NTR there is no Telugudesam Party. Both the Parties are now depending on the departed souls for their survival. 

The condition of Congress party is also no different from these Parties. The party survived using Indira Gandhi’s name for some time and later using Rajeev Gandhi’s name for some more time. Now the Congress party once again chanting the names of Indira and Rajeev as elections are fast approaching. That means we don’t have leaders who have the full trust and faith of the people! It is really a tragedy. As NTR used to say  all these leaders are dependents. Ideal leaders are born in ideal societies only. We can not expect great leaders when the entire society has become selfish. Now the people have to select the less harmful leaders out of the present set up. 

Let us focus our attention on the trends of media also. When heroine Anjali disappeared all of a sudden a few days back, the media, preferably the electronic media celebrated it as if there is no tomorrow. The news channels strove and raced against each other to trace out her where abouts till she came out of her hiding on her own. She went in to hiding for personal reasons. At the same time a ghastly, inhuman incident took place at Tenali in Guntur District. Some youngsters under the influence of alcohol misbehaved with a mother and her daughter in a manner most condemnable in most unequivocal terms. They had thrown the mother Suneela under a speeding lorry causing her instant death. But no news channel gave enough importance to this tragic news in its reporting. The news of Anjali has become top priority for all of them.

No body knows how to react on this development. As a matter of fact, it is not appropriate to criticise the channels either. The viewers who watched the Anjali incident did not pay enough or expected attention to Tenali incident. For the viewers the tragedies are natural happenings. So they have not taken the Tenali incident seriously. They need some entertainment as the problems and troubles are regular happenings. They found enough entertainment in Anjali’s story. That was why channels also gave importance to Anjali news. Who should be blamed? Every body will have one’s own argument for this question. At last the Anjali story ended on a happy note. Now the channels can wait till another story breaks in. 

But the life of Suneela who fell victim to a handful of drunken ruffians at Tenali cannot return. Since Suneela belongs to the Dalit community, the local Dalit and other allied organisations organised Dharnas and processions. The officials sensed the gravity of the situation and swung into action immediately leading to the arrest of the culprits. They have announced some exgratia also. The Union Government that brought the now famous Nirbhaya Act to punish the rapists seems to have satisfied with its work and responsibility. Instead of making the laws to respond speedily when such bizarre incidents happened, what is the use of introducing news laws in to the system? Moreover most of the people, even the educated ones are not aware that a law called Nirbhaya Act has come into being.

There may be a number of laws and Acts, but the crimes are unabated. There could be two reasons for this pathetic situation. One is the citizens of the country do not have any idea about these laws. Secondly, these laws are not being implemented efficiently. The responsibility of implementing them lies squarely on the shoulders of both the Union and State Governments. Why should the officials wait till the people take themselves on to the roads? How long this will continue? Since the Dalit organisations in Tenali are active, they could agitate for justice. But such is not the situation in several parts of the State. As long as people do not care about the Laws, such gruesome incidents continue to happen.

As Mr RK is on a Foreign Tour Visiting South Africa,We Regret our Inability to Publish WEEKEND COMMENT This Week(7th April 2013)

Weekend Comment – RK

Published in ANDHRA JYOTHY as KOTTA PALUKU on 31^st Mar 2013

“Society is a temple and people are Gods” – it was with this slogan that the great soul N.T. Ramarao founded the Telugu Desam Party and 31 years have passed since its inception.

 During these three decades, many changes have taken place in politics, mainly in our state. Values have withered away. Leaders turned the people into bakaras and exploiting the society as if it is a mine, with an ultimate aim of grabbing power at any cost. They feed the people with welfare programmes as they feed goats before killing them for feast, and then they swallow away the public wealth.

 With honesty, NTR lived like fire so long as he remained in public life.

He treated the society as a real temple. In order to extend a helping hand to the needy, he implemented several welfare programmes, almost three decades ago, and showed us to see.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founded by NTR with sincerity, commitment and public morale, has entered 32nd year. Of these three decades, it retained power for 16 years and remained out of it for 14 years. Although N.T. Rama Rao founded the party, he enjoyed power only for six and half years. Its Chandra Babu Naidu who enjoyed the power for the rest of the period. There is no comparison between the then TDP led by NTR and the present one. In fact, there is no such scope. There was no money factor in those days. Most of the candidates who contested on TDP ticket in 1983 elections were new to politics.

The money they had spent in the elections was less than one lakh rupees! T.Jeevan Reddy who contested from Jagityal assembly constituency in 1983, for example, after having spent Rs 25,000, requested N.T.Ramarao, when the latter was on an election campaign, that he would win the elections if he had another Rs 10,000. Ramarao reportedly arranged that money. And Jeevan Reddy won that election with huge majority. There were many like this! But what about now? If anyone wishes to contest in the Assembly elections, one has to spend at least 10 crores of rupees! When NTR constituted his first Cabinet, most of the ministers were unknown faces. NTR who started the Telugu Desam Party in such a scenario, might have, in the progression of time, compromised on some political counts, but never did he compromise with corruption at any given time.

As a matter of fact nobody could ever dare to offer money to NTR. Even such towering personality was not spared when he entered politics. Some alleged that NTR indulged in corrupt practices. Although the public did not believe these unfounded allegations, NTR lost power in 1989 because of the decisions he had taken without weighing the pros and cons and also because of his show of self-aggrandizement. NTR who never wanted to live in luxurious palaces, lived in his own house in Abids area. But the house, which was the center of attraction till 1989, wore deserted look no sooner than the defeat of the Party at the hustings. NTR then shifted his residence to a small house in Banjara Hills. Even after coming to power again in 1995, he continued to live in the same house.

After 1995, Chandra Babu Naidu has taken over the party. Even though NTR was the founder of the Party, it is Chandrababu Naidu who kept the Party in power for a longer period, and sustains it even while in the Opposition. There is no comparison between NTR and Chandrababu Naidu. NTR used to take decisions hastily and emotionally as well. He used to stand by the people who stood by him. But Chandrababu ponders over a decision many a time. He keeps the people at bay without any reservation, if he feels that keeping them close would be politically harmful to him.

Courageous NTR

In one word, NTR was courageous whereas Chandrababu is not. He who is not courageous, cannot take firm decisions. Chandrababu Naidu who realised his weakness, concentrated on administration and earned a name of being an able administrator. The decisions taken by NTR, when he was in politics ensured a permanent place for him in the history. As Chandrababu Naidu does not have the audacity of NTR, people still do not repose trust in his leadership even though he has been in the Opposition for the past 9 years. The present generation expects dynamism. Even if one committed a mistake, one should have the courage to impress upon the people that it was done for them only.

He must have the guts to say that it was done for the public even if he did the undoable. Chandrababu lacks both the qualities! Even though the Telugu Desam Party lost power in 1989, the cadre remained confident in the very presence of NTR. He never cared for, nor interfered in the day to day affairs of the Party while in the Opposition. Chandrababu used to run the Party in the name of NTR like the in the administrative parlour ‘By order in the name of Governorof Andhra Pradesh’ in government G.Os. It should be stressed that it was the hard and tenacious work of Chandrababu Naidu and his team that brought back the Party to power with astounding majority in 1994, so impressive was the majority that Congress Party even lost the status of being even an Opposition.

NTR used to have a clear understanding of both his sons-in-law Chandrababu Naidu and Dr Daggubati Venkateswara Rao. Because of this reason Chandrababu used to gain upper hand over Party matters. Both the Party matters and government affairs went on smoothly and traditionally when NTR was the Chief Minister. But when, once Chandrababu became the Chief Minister, he endowed himself with all the high-tech qualities and attracted the youth. In the process he lost touch with the older generation. That was the reason for his defeat in 2004.

Chandrababu might have lacked many good qualities in him, but at a time when the influence of money in politics reached its dizzy heights and the loyalty lost its place within the Party, his contribution, effort and efficiency to keep the Party together for more than ten years is laudable and can not be under-estimated. Chandrababu now says that a leader should give confidence that “I am here”, but ironically though, he himself never did so, when he was in the power and out of it. Consequent upon which even his own cadre lost faith in him. Even though it has become necessary for him to rectify the same, he has not geared himself up fully.

YS would have become bankrupt

Even the Congress Party was in the Opposition from 1994 to 2004 for ten years. Everyone who sailed with Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy closely knew how difficult it was for Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to run the Party financially while in the Opposition. Had it not been for the Congress to return to power in 2004, besides the Party, the YSR family would also have become bankrupt financially. Chandrababu who never thought that he would need not look back and who never thought, for a second, that he would be sitting in the Opposition, now realised the vagaries of political life.

Because of the change that had taken place in his style of functioning after coming to power for the second time in 1999, Chandrababu lost the trust of the people and the cadre. Chandrababu, who was under the spell of laurels from the rich and the elite, never cared for the poor. And as the Chief Minister he had taken several hard decisions. As a result he lost power once again. Let us take the issue of hike in power charges. He became unpopular because he had increased the electricity charges heavily. People had taken the campaign by Congress Party for granted that the charges would be raised again if Chandrababu returns to power, and as a result, defeated him in 2004. As a matter of fact there was no necessity to increase the charges the way he did.

Rosaiah, who was the Minister for Electricity in YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s Government used to comment in the inner circles that because of Chandrababu the Congress Government need not increase the charges for the next ten years. Rosaiah used to joke that the photo of Chandrababu should be kept in the bedroom and prayed everyday, as he helped Congress come back to power. Now that Rosaiah is the Governor of Tamil Nadu, if anybody feels that he might not have made these comments, they can meet him personally and ascertain the facts.

Rosaiah’s comments turn out to be real. The Government did not feel the necessity to increase the power charges between 2004 and 2009. Similar decisions taken by Chandrababu during his rule helped the then Opposition a lot, while his Government suffered untold misery. Chandrababu’s habit of taking decisions on key issues only after consulting the experts, has taken a back seat after he came to power for the second time. His word became final and he stopped receiving wisely advice.

This is the main reason for his Party’s debacle in the elections. The Telugu Desam Party started experiencing innumerable problems, which it had never experienced since its inception. Chandrababu has been both its strength and weakness. Some of the leaders went to the extent of suggesting that the situation of the Party can be improved if it was handed over to Nandamuri Balakrishna and the like. But NTR knew the efficacy and capacity of his sons more than anybody else. Though he himself declared some time back that Balakrishna would be his successor, soon he withdrew his own announcement.

Vijayawada episode

The fact is it is highly impossible for anybody else, other than Chandrababu to run the Party. No doubt, Balakrishna does have cine glamour but he can not net the voters. Balakrishna, who delivers lengthy dialogues in mythological films, perspires to deliver a good speech in the public. Party cadres are fully aware whether or not Balakrishna can deliver the goods. The happenings at the recent Vijayawada visit of Jr NTR were the best examples for that. Keeping the differences with Junior in mind, Balakrishna instructed the Party cadre not to meet Junior when he visited Vijayawada. Balakrishna is not only the son of NTR, but is a close relation to Chandrababu by way of marrying his daughter to Babu’s son. Therefore the leaders in the Party simply obeyed the instructions of Balakrishna.

Even the enemies should be taken care of while one is in distress. But it did not happen in this case. After the debacle in 1989, NTR, keeping aside his ego, called upon the Party leaders, who had quit, to return to the Party fold. Junior NTR might have some undesirable qualities in him, but it is not the time for party leaders to indulge in blame game. The difference between NTR and Chandrababu is best known only in these trying contexts. People like Balakrishna never ventured to interfere in Party affairs whether NTR was in or out of power. In some issues Chandrababu appears to be adamant, and in many others he simply melts.

As he is out of power for 9 years, the financial problems became a big burden on his shoulders. As a result he has to depend on leaders like Nama Nageswara Rao, Sujana Choudary and C.M. Ramesh. He had to nominate Sujana Choudary and Ramesh for the Rajya Sabha in return to their services to the Party. Senior leaders have been sulking at the domination of these leaders. Chandrababu had to send Nama Nageswara Rao and Sujana Choudary to pacify Dadi Veerabhadra Rao at the time of selecting the candidates for MLC posts. But it was like rubbing the salt on the wounds for Veerabhadra Rao.

Babu irks Dadi

In fact Veerabhadra Rao doubts the role of Ramesh for the denial of  ticket to him, even though he has been in the Party since its inception. Chandrababu should have sent senior leaders like Ashok Gajapathi Raju to Veerabhadra Rao. Chandrababu used to do so in the beginning. In fact Veerabhadra Rao would not have sulked if Chandrababu acted firmly. He could have kept quite had Chandrababu explained his difficulties in allotting the ticket to him. Veerabhadra Rao felt humiliated as Chandrababu informed him in the last minute. After all, Veerabhadra Rao is the Opposition leader in the AP Legislative Council.

This is the main weakness of Chandrababu. He hesitates to open up his mind. That was why he always encountered some red faces at the time of selection of candidates. Inspite of all these drawbacks, the Party does not have an alternative to Chandrababu. He knows it very well that because of him the Party lost power at the hustings. Therefore he now wants to bring the Party back to power on his own strength. That has propelled him to take to Pada Yatra against the limitations of advancing age. Its like do or die for him. It is the same  spirit that keeps him walk through. The rank and file, who have been watching their leader all along, crying over his plight. But mere tearing down the cheeks will not attract any votes. The Party has to take some courageous decisions. Vijayalaxmi & co has already taken patents over crying publicly.

Moreover, mere hard work is not enough to sustain in present politics. The Party has to counter the strategies of the opponents. People got habituated to sops offered by political parties. Let’s refer to an example here. Government grants Rs 500 for the poor widows in the state. Recently a person met a TDP MLA and requested him to help grant his wife a widow pension. The MLA was surprised at his request. “How can your wife get the widow pension when you are alive?” the MLA asked him. “Everybody is getting the pension. What are you going to lose if you grant the same to me”, the villager shot back! This is just an example for how the welfare funds are being misused.

People may expect some easy money like this. The political parties are responsible for this tragic situation. Chandrababu too is granting boons to one and all during his pada yatra. As a result Chandrababu losing the credibility with some sections of society. Chandrababu has earned a name for his administrative capabilities. Instead of depending upon that quality, he has started depending upon distributing freebies to the people. He should have realised that If he started granting everything to everybody like sky is the limit, people will lose faith in him. How can he fail to read this! Most of the people will definitely agree with the words of K. Sambasiva Rao, CPI MLA, who commented that “at a time when all the systems collapsed and the situation gone haywire, only Chandrababu can bring back right on the tracks”.

“What’s wrong?”

An IAS Officer belonging to the State too commented on the same lines. His comment was  “Why people are not siding with Chandrababu? What’s wrong?”. Even Chandrababu needs some introspection here. He must ask himself the question “What’s wrong?” And then he has to rectify all his mistakes. Then only the purpose of Pada Yatra will be served. Otherwise he will remain in history as the Opposition leader who undertook the longest Pada Yatra.

That apart, it looks like even the comrades in our State started learning some diplomacy. CPI leader Narayana and CPM leader Raghavulu stood up and greeted YSRCP Honorary President Vijayalaxmi with folded hands when she visited their camp where they were observing Dharna against increased electricity charges. This scene reflects their diplomatic behaviour. Moreover, even as the Telugu Desam leaders hijack their dharna, these Left leaders visited their camp and expressed solidarity. With this one is constrained to wonder who actually is responsible for the power crisis.

When Chandrababu, during his previous tenure, increased the electricity charges, it may be recalled that the same Left parties resorted to agitation, and the police resorted to firing near Bashirbagh. When YSR was the Chief Minister, he prolonged the payments of arrears of free electricity charges. Thus he had almost bankrupted the agencies bestowed with the task of power distribution. Because of his wrong doings the present government had to increase the charges. Most of the power purchase agreements were signed during the regimes of Chandrababu and YSR. YSR came to power with a promise that his government would review all the Electricity Purchase Agreements signed by Chandrababu Government. But YSR did not review a single agreement even though he appointed a Committee to go through such agreements under the leadership of Rosaiah. The main reason for the present power crisis stems from the fact that the production of electricity reached dismal levels in the State.

Power crisis

The Left parties too are responsible for the present power predicament.  Because of their agitations and movements, the Projects granted by YSR Government remained incomplete till this date. There are no chances for new Hydel projects in the State. We simply refuse the atomic energy plants. The Gas resources are very limited in our State. Reliance is not prepared to extract gas unless they get the price they want. Only thermal power projects should cater to the demands of the day. But even the thermal electricity became costly because the coal prices have increased at the international market. Moreover most of the projects, though got approval, remained incomplete. Therefore every political party is responsible directly or indirectly for the power predicament and has to take the slice from the sins.

Nevertheless, everybody blames Kiran Kumar Reddy because he is in power. Because of the Opposition demand and in view of the ensuing elections, the State Government came forward to reduce the proposed increase of electricity charges. Finally what happens is the Government will not buy electricity for exorbitant prices. We have to adjust with the limited supply. That means the duration of power cut will increase. The officials will not disclose the real problem to the public. They just prepare the statistics to suit the interests of the Party in power. The same officials, who vouched that free power is impossible when Chandrababu was in power, immediately reversed their stand posing “why not?” (to give free power) when YSR came to power.

Because of this ever interchanging games played by everyone, the state will have to face a bigger crisis in near future. The same political parties that faced criticism while in power will stage agitations when in the Opposition. The Left parties too stake a claim for the slice of a cake, by expressing solidarity to the parties that stand by them.

Even the public tends to forget what the powers that be did while in power, thanks to the short memory of the public. Nobody – whether Rajasekhara Reddy before 2004, or the YCP that belongs to his son which is spearheading the agitation on power now, or even TDP could ever commit themselves for reducing the power charges if they come to power. They can never. The Left that have either been seeking or taking the support from these parties will never ask for such a commitment. What a hypocrisy?! Better if the people resign to this situation mentally, whoever comes to take the cudgels on.

Weekend Comment by RK

Published in Andhra Jyothy as KOTTA PALUKU on 25th March 2013

Among all the news pictures of the last week two pictures stood out. One was of UPA chairperson and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi standing in the Central Hall of Parliament with folded hands in front of Samajvadi party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and apologizing for something a minister of her party had said. The second one was of an IAS officer Srilakshmi, wearing two support belts, one for her neck and the other for her waist, coming in a wheelchair to attend the CBI court in Nampally. While some felt pity at the plight of these two women, others thought it warranted a deeper analysis of the present political situation. While the picture of Sonia Gandhi was a symbol of utter helplessness, Srilakshmi’s predicament was a result of her own doing.

According to Forbes magazine, Sonia Gandhi is the 12^th most influential leader in the world this year. Last year she was in ninth place. How can a person so powerful suddenly become so helpless, that too before a person who till recently she was not even willing to meet? Ordinarily these things are passed off by people as political gimmicks of the power hungry. But her predicament is something that calls for deeper analysis. If Central Minister Beni Prasad Varma said something about Mulayam Singh Yadav why should Sonia Gandhi go and beg for his pardon? Varma himself could have gone and apologized. Or if he was not willing someone else from the Congress party could have gone and done it. And also from where did Bani get the courage to say something that is so clearly unacceptable to his party Supremo? All this is an indication of weakening of the Congress party leadership.

The reason Sonia did it is of course because of the DMK’s decision to withdraw support to her Government at the Centre. To keep her government in power she had to be on good terms with both Samajvadi and Bahujan Samaj Parties’ as they extend outside support to the UPA. The UPA’s tragedy is that its fate has been hanging in thin air right from the moment of its coming to power for a second term. Since the Congress party did not possess the majority to rule on its own, even small parties in the alliance have started dictating terms to the Government. It was not so when the UPA came to power the first time. Then they had taken the support of Left parties. Unlike the present regional parties, the Left never threatened the Government frequently. They brought pressure on the Government only on policy matters. This time the scenario is totally different. First Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee sulked and left the alliance. Now it is the DMK’s turn. If it was not for the fear of the Shiva Sena-BJP combine in Maharastra,  Sharad Pawar’s NCP would have also created problems for UPA.

Fissiparous tendencies

For both Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the top priority in the last four years has been keeping the UPA in power. To keep regional parties in good humour they had to do a lot of cajoling and face many a challenge in that entire period. It is easy to criticise all this as the unscrupulous behavior of a power hungry Congress party. Even the main opposition party BJP says so, though it had to do the same in Karnataka where their Government was in power. Maybe it is time for intellectuals to give a serious thought on the desirability of regional parties exercising power at the Centre! Now we have only two National parties in the country – the Congress and BJP – and unfortunately both of them are weak and much dependent on regional parties to form a Government. Of late in many parts of the country a number of political parties have sprung up on the basis of region, religion and caste and all of them enjoy the support of the people, which is why the national parties have lost their sheen. May be they have only themselves to blame for it but see what is happening. The regional parties that had to confine themselves to the regional or State interests have now started dictating the foreign policy as well. Instead of any good, this development will undoubtedly do a lot of harm to the Nation’s interests. Not only that – peoples support for these regional and sub regional parties, who do not have any ideology or policy other than attaining personal power, is leading to a greater threat. The Nation’s unity and integrity itself is under threat now. In future the consequences of this kind of politics may be even worse. Any party with five, six M.Ps could start dictating terms to the Central Government. If that happens who will protect the wider interests of our country?

Let us take the example of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He is demanding a special status for his State. We don’t know on what basis he is putting this demand forward. He might be a powerful leader in his State and to increase his popularity he might have thought of this. But is it right for a leader who thinks he has all the qualifications to become Prime Minister of this country to make such a demand? How can a politician who thinks only about himself and his State become a National leader? We are still suffering from the consequences of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of Independence. Except telling ourselves that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of our country where do we have the freedom to travel in that beautiful State? Just like Nitish Kumar, what is the guarantee that other regional parties will not ask for a similar status tomorrow in exchange for their support to the Government? Will this not finally lead to the disintegration of the Nation? Those who are asking for a special status today might end up asking secession tomorrow. There is no guarantee that they will not do that.

Take the example of the DMK. The octogenarian leader of this party Karunanidhi has demanded the Government of India take measures to pass strictures on the Sri Lankan Government in the UN regarding the genocide of its Tamil population. Is it fair to bring pressure on the Central Government on a sensitive issue concerning foreign affairs? If regional parties are going to dictate our foreign policy what respect will we have in front of the international community? There are many Telugu speaking people and Gujaratis in the US. Tomorrow, if for some reason the US takes a decision causing inconvenience to them and the regional parties in their respective States want the Government of India to go in for war with that country can we do it? Unless these tendencies are nipped in the bud, leave alone the Central Government, the country itself will disintegrate. The killing of Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka happened years ago. When the genocide took place Karunanidhi himself was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. When he did not open his mouth then why is he doing so now? After pictures of the killing of Prabhakaran’s son were made public and people and the sub regional parties in Tamil Nadu took up the issue, Karunanidhi decided to grab the opportunity. He proceeded to give an ultimatum to the Central Government on behalf of all the Tamil people. He withdrew support to the Government even before the consultations were over. If leaders of regional parties are going to behave like this, unconcerned about the sensitive nature of a foreign affairs issue, it is doubtful that they would keep the country united in the future. Will it be possible to formulate foreign policy according to the political requirements of regional leaders?

Already we have enough enemies around us. The prospect of India becoming a developed country in the future, a prediction being made by international agencies, is causing heartburn to China, our northern neighbour. It is trying to get aggressive on our borders and is also trying to garner support from our enemy country Pakistan for the same purpose. We lost the war to China in 1962 and even now we are no match to that nation’s military and weapon power. To add to this, they are trying to make us feel insecure by seeking to get friendlier with our neighbours. They did it with the Maldives. Tomorrow, they will do so with Sri Lanka. We are in no condition to stand up to them. In such circumstances if we are going to increase enmity with our neighbours what will happen to the security of the country? The people of India are unfortunate to have leaders who are utterly devoid of the minimum common sense. There is nothing wrong in supporting regional parties when there is dissatisfaction with national parties; but what will happen if people also do not bother about national issues? As long as regional parties form Governments at the State-level there is no harm. But if the Government at the Centre is formed with the support of regional parties the situation might well come to this. Until people become wiser about the difference between Assembly polls and elections to Parliament this will not change.

Both the national parties also should strive for national interests instead of parochial interests for the sake of short time gains. Only then they will gain the trust of people, if not today may be tomorrow. If it is not possible for Congress and BJP to give priority to national interests then some other national party should come forward to form a national Government at the centre and keep the nation united. Otherwise leaders like Karunanidhi, Nitish Kumar will try to get aggressive all the time. What credibility will the a Central Government have if it is constantly held ransom to the moods of leaders like Karunanidhi, Mamata Benerjee, Mulayam Singh, Mayavathi Etc. Isn’t it because of Karunanidhi’s sudden withdrawal of support that Sonia had to go and stand before Mulayam. Actually we don’t have to show pity on her. She might look helpless today but was it not due to the policies of her party in the last few decades that she landed herself in that position. Both the national parties have nobody to blame except themselves for their present condition. If they do not realize this and rectify their mistakes they would be betraying the country. People also should confine the regional parties to their respective States and elect the national parties in Parliament elections.

It was her own fault

Now let us take Srilakshmi’s episode. Though her health has deteorated badly she is forced to spend her time in jail. One feels sad to see her coming to the court in wheelchair with belts fastened to her neck and waist. But it is nobody’s fault except hers. She got selected for IAS at a very young age and if she did not find herself on the wrong side of the law she would have proceeded to become Central cabinet seretary. Now she is suffering from ill health on one side and jail life on the other side all because of her corrupt practices. We do not how much money she took from Gali Janardan Reddy & Co but that definitely did not save her from ill health. Life of Srilakshmi should be a lesson to all IAS officers. Taking full advantage of her weaknesses the Government of Rajasekhar Reddy made her do all kinds of illegal things. Can Srimati Vijaya Lakshmi and Sharmila, who continuously harp about Jagan’s unfair detention in Jail,  tell the people who the real culprit is for Srilakshmi’s plight.

Ex Director of Mines Rajagopal, who spent several months in prison and released on bail recently, is spending most of his time sitting in front of Lord Venkateswara  in prayers. God fearing people usually do not commit any sins. By now Rajagopal must have realised his mistakes. All these officers who are involved in Jaganmohan Reddy and Gali Janardan Reddy cases were angry with the newspapers when they wrote stories of their involvement during Rajasekhara Reddy regime. Aspiring for something is understandable but greediness is not. If Jagan and Gali Janardan Reddy are in prison today it is all because of their greediness. Srilakshmi lost both her prestige and health for helping these greedy people. Srilakshmi’s husband is also an IPS officer. Inspite of enjoying good status and  salary  if they are not satisfied with their position what can anybody do? Jaganmohan Reddy and Gali Janardan Reddy are political leaders. To cover their illegal actions they will try to convince the people that they are being victiimised and succeed in that. What can people like Srilakshmi say? They would not have done these wrong deeds had they thought of their children who will lose face in the soceity tomorrow. While the main profiteers walk with their heads held high, people like Srilakshmi are hanging their heads in shame. Who will take the responsibility for her mental agony? When Jaganmohan Reddy and Gali Janardan Reddy come to court they greet people as if they have gone to jail as freedom fighters and not as accused in a criminal case. They might be getting away with it today but some day they will have to pay the price for all this. There is a proverb in Telugu which says if our gold is good what harm can the goldsmith do. Likewise if these officials had been honest who can make them take wrong decisions by force?

The surprising thing is that even after seeing so many officials going to jail, corruption in higher officials has not come down. Maybe they think that people are not averse to corruption because they are not averse to Jagamohan Reddy who inspite of amassing so much wealth through illegal means continues to enjoy their support. Instead of taking money  for giving undue benefits, in other words, quid pro quo they are now resorting to taking bribes for not doing harm! This is the latest culture in the State. If you do not want to get harmed by anybody you should in advance pay money to officials and political leaders. whom to blame for this situation? Once corruption is accepted this is what happens. who is left to preach the good old moral that greediness will one day bring doom?

when people’s participation is lacking..

With the support of Telangana Rastra Samiti Telangana political JAC conducted Sadak Bandh on Mehbubnagar-Kurnool highway recently. The organisers might have claimed the bandh to be a success but the weaknesses in Telangana Movement were easy to notice. The difference between bandhs with peoples participation and without peoples participation was there for any one to see. In the past the same people had called for a bandh on Hyderabad – Vijayawada highway, in which all villagers enroute actively participated and made the bandh a great success. In fact, not many leaders participated in that bandh. No party kanduvas were seen hanging around their necks. Still it was a success. Why did the present bandh got over in just three hours? Whether Telangana leaders like it or not this is the hard reality. The TRS chief K.Chandrasekhar Rao went to the Parliament recently promising to create halchal on Telangana issue and got scolded by top leaders like L.K.Advani for behaving in such a manner. After that he stopped going to Parliament itself. Even then, his critics say he went only to sign in the registers and save his membership rather than bringing Telangana issue to the fore.

Whatever that maybe – the way the Sadak bandh was conducted raised doubts on TRS popularity with people. it is an indication that they are losing the confidence of the  people. They need to assess themselves at the grassroot level. Government also acted tough only because it realised the weaknesses of the movement. Kodanram and Srinivasa Goud, leaders of JAC, had to spend two days in jail.  As Kanche Ilaiah said in an article it is undesirable for employees to lead the movement themselves. They should confine themselves to only giving moral support to the movement. But unfortunately these leaders in the name of JAC are trying to dictate terms to political parties. This is not good for anybody. Tomorrow if Telangana becomes a reality political parties will not be in a position to control these employees associations. A leader from TRS himself expressed the fear. In a democracy functions of each one have been defined.

Weekend Comment by RK

Published in Andhra Jyothy as KOTTA PALUKU on 17.03-2013

The ‘ No Confidence Motion’ pressed into AP assembly fizzled out in much quicker time, than the marathon discussion of 14 hours discussion that preceded it in the assembly! What a waste of valuable legislative time, over a pointless exercise!

Though the outcome was more or less a forgone conclusion, common people who are unaware of fuzzy statistics & political maneuvers were wondering whether the Government will stay or go!

It was crystal clear to one and all from the very beginning, that this ‘ no confidence’ motion will be defeated easily, from the very ‘ style’ (if there is any!) in which TRS went in for move. Sometimes, as history shows us,  opposition parties bring in this move, not with the intention of pulling down the Governments nor because they have numbers to do so, but with the intention of forcing the Governments to listen to peoples’ problems with more empathy.

But sadly for our AP, the Friday’s move failed to shed spotlight on people’s genuine problems and worries, but exposed the desperate rivalries that opposition parties had among themselves! This has been quite a boon for the Congress, the ruling party, who not only quite enjoyed this slanging match between the opposition parties, but CM Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy  hit back strongly at TRS, who moved in with this ‘ No Confidence’ motion. At the same time, YCP became a target both for Congress & TDP to launch a vicious attack. YSR CP leaders alleged that TDP has secret pact with the ruling party, hence they didn’t support the No Trust motion. Irrespective of the truth of the allegations that parties tried to hurl on each other, this saga has brought to light, the bitter rivalries between the opposition parties, much to the delight of the ruling Congress party, which quite enjoyed the ring site view of the Opposition boxing bouts!

Political observers and casual onlookers alike, find no palpable reason why the smaller parties like TRS & YCP mooted the ‘ No Trust’ vote, without the largest opposition party, TDP’s support.  If the intention is only to prove that a secret collusion exists between the ruling party and the main opposition, YCP has been crying foul for a long time now, the so called ‘ match fixing’ allegation. There’s nothing new to expose.

In the whole drama, it’s the TRS’ decision, which took everyone by surprise! YCP wants immediate elections, which favour them, for various reasons. But TRS never showed such urgency. But KCR, who is sort of noted for his unpredictable nature and for sensation prone decisions, has gone in for it all the same. Conventionally, the largest Opposition party in the Assembly / Parliament takes the responsibility of ‘ No Confidence vote’ upon itself and tries to garner support from various other parties. But this time round, with the benefit of hindsight and past bitter experiences still fresh in their memory, TDP decided not to take the risk and the surprise move by KCR fizzled out much before it started! YSR CP and TRS came together and pressed in for a No Confidence motion in assembly even without the support of other opposition parties. This very disunity among the opposition has worked in favour of the ruling Congress.

But a close statistical analysis tells us, even in the scenario where TDP too supports a no-trust vote, there is no immediate threat to the present Congress Govt.  It’s an open secret that, unless all the coverts within the congress (leaning towards either YCP or TRS) backstab simultaneously from inside, there is no threat to it from the outside or from the Opposition. It’s a foregone conclusion that, 8 of the congress MLA s would defy the party’s whip and vote against the ruling congress. But on the last day, the number reached to 9, with Jogi Ramesh joining the ‘ rebel’ bandwagon. Apart from that, no great surprises were in store for the Government or Opposition. And as for TDP, except Koppula Hariswar Reddy, everyone knows before hand that, 6 of their MLA s would defy the whip. They announced in the past, that they are going to join YSR CP (YCP in short). But the interesting question that remains is that – what action, Congress & TDP are going to take on their ‘ rebels’ and how tough they would be, irrespective of consequences! If the rebels are disqualified, according to the norms, would there is another round of by elections, before General elections in 2014? For a short period of 9 months? Usually, it takes no less than 3 months for the parties, to finalize a disciplinary action on defiant MLA s. By then, the time left for General Elections would be less than 6 months.  In such cases, precedents tell us that, such seats are ‘ kept vacant’ till the General Elections.

YCP is the only party, which is fervently wishing for an earlier by elections because, they benefit this party the most. Maximum benefit would be to YCP only, because of ‘ geographical tilt’. 15 out of 16 constituencies of ‘ internal rebels’ fall under Seema-Andhra area, and only 1 seat, that of Koppula Hariswar Reddy’s would be in Telangana. He had jumped to TRS out of TDP.  Whether or not the Government falls, YCP needs these by elections to boost up its strength in the Assembly and it’s understandable, if YCP moves in a ‘ No Trust ‘ motion. But why TRS went for it?  Now that ‘ collusion politics’ are ruling the roost in AP, anyone can be cahoots with anyone. Politics maketh strange bedfellows and more so in the present AP political melting pot.

FISHING IN  THE WATERS OF ‘ NO CONFIDENCE’!

Keen political watchers in AP could unearth many interesting intrigues that were playing out. New definitions were created. Politicians of all parties were resorting to very emotional rhetoric. Personal career issues, masquerading as ‘ people’s problems’ have come to the fore. Where as ‘ Real’ political issues, such as rising prices, increase in Power tariff, drastic power cuts already in vogue in rural areas – have taken a backseat! This is the bane on AP politics!

All parties big and small, lacked earnestness. We witnessed a funny case of 2 tails ( YCP & TRS) trying to wag 2 dogs, much in contrast to what usually happens. They tried to outsmart Congress & TDP. This became an amusing political pot boiler for the people and media alike. On the premise that TRS is now strong in Telangana region and YCP in Seema-Andhra, these which were branded as ‘ tail parties’ tried to reap benefit out of the present ‘ no trust ‘ vote, by forcing an early election in AP. Where as the Congress & TDP, which are being alleged as entering a ‘ secret pact’, were trying their best to postpone such possibility, till the situation turns favourably for them. This is the main reason why, they took cudgels on each other. For preempting one another’s game plan!

YCP got the feelers from the ground levels that their popularity is waning and they wanted early elections before the ‘ sympathy due to YSR’s sudden death’ totally evaporates. But it’s indeed mysterious why, TRS went in for this no-confidence move! It defied all logic and took all political onlookers by surprise! TDP didn’t want by elections and it was categorical about it not supporting the No Trust.  But quite unexpectedly, Majlis didn’t support the no-trust move either!

But the reason cited by their Chief, Mr.Asaduddin Owaisi, does not sound convincing! He said since BJP is in the fray, supporting No-Confidence motion, they stayed away from it. But in reality, BJP is only one of the parties, which supported the move, it did not PROPOSE the move and sought cooperation from other parties. Nevertheless, Mr.Asaduddin stuck on to this flimsy reason and there is a political calculation behind it. Whichever way the future scenario unfolds in future, he wants to latch on to his Muslim vote bank with him under all circumstances! For this, he has used BJP’s presence  as a pretext. Otherwise, what do you make out of a party (Majlis) which has, only recently withdrawn its support to the Government but refrained from voting when ‘ No Confidence’ is moved?

But then, why blame Majlis alone? None of the parties in AP were above opportunism and ‘ benefit-loss’ calculations in this whole drama.

But one question begs for an answer, though.  Why did TRS leaders, who in the past vowed to never join hands with YCP because the latter stood for united Andhra Pradesh, made a complete Volte Face? And YCP on its part, which could never openly come out in support of Telangana cause, has come in support of a motion pressed forth by TRS.  This confounded every one. True, a secret pact sort of thing did exist between TRS & YCP in the past. But when YCP tried to spread its roots to Telangana area, the relations between these 2 parties have strained.  TRS is under the impression that, by using the Telangana sentiment to its advantage, it could stem the upsurge of YCP in Telangana region. Present electoral mood being what it is, it’s possible that, TRS leader K.Chandra Sekhar Rao has thought that, if there were immediate elections in the state now, YCP would win most seats in Seema-Andhra & TRS will sweep in Telangana area.  KCR may have kept his mind open to all possibilities, on what to do in such a scenario.

Now, if that was indeed KCR’s motive, then he should have persuaded the biggest opposition, Telugu Desam Party first, to propose a ‘ No Confidence’ motion, and tried to rally in all smaller oppositions to support such a move! Instead, he showed considerable haste without consulting anyone and how such hasty moves will help the Telangana cause – he has to answer!

If all this circus was performed –only to prove that Congress & TDP are in collusion with each other, how will such evidence help Telangana people in general or TRS party in particular? If people of Telangana were indeed to believe such propaganda, the biggest beneficiary would be YCP (Jagan Party), as it’s the newest kid on the block and people are weary of old parties. If that happens, TRS would take the biggest hit in T Region! So, the whole step appears like a suicidal move for TRS!

If, to pull down the Government is indeed the motto of KCR, and had he approached TDP, it would have had no alternative but to go for the move. Instead, KCR announced, in typical unilateral & arbitrary style of his “ I am going for the move. Will you please extend the support? “ . This got the goat of TDP, which is a bigger entity in AP & the biggest opposition. That’s when TDP leaders thundered ‘ Tail is trying to wag the dog’!

KCR – PLOUGHING A LONELY FURROW FROM FARM HOUSE

People who know him closely in political circles admit, KCR has a king sized Ego!  It’s precisely due to this reason, that the Telangana agitation under his leadership, has been going ‘ 1 step forward & 2 steps backwards ‘ for the past few years. We have seen enough evidendences of the same. The movement gaining a momentum, like a wave, reaching a crescendo and then, fizzling out as quickly and the stalemate continuing for a long time. Long pauses. Quick upsurge and dying down. Long pause again. This has been the pattern.

Over the past decade, KCR has been changing his friends with periodic regularity,  in the name of Telangana cause. He befriended with congress in 2004 elections & with their archrival TDP in 2009 elections. Sometimes, he looks up to BJP led NDA. Other times, he says he would merge his party into Congress. People of Telangana have been patiently enduring all his antics because he put Telangana’s aspirations on India map and he was successful in convincing people that, ‘ ends justify the means’. But times is a fickle mistress and people will not trust him blindly forever.  Even KCR seems to have understood this! That’s why he seems to be wishing for early elections. No one see the possibility of Telangana state becoming a reality before 2014, so KCR is moving his pieces so as to win maximum  seats in the coming General Elections.

Even staunch Telangana leaders have admitted to us in private that, this whole soap opera of ‘ No Trust’ move does help an iota to the Telangana cause! But KCR is not in the habit of consulting with others, working with other leaders of equal stature and taking democratic decisions. He takes decisions without bothering to explain anyone and tries to impose the same on all others around him. In spite of this, he has been successful in pushing his agenda on others so far. If anyone has the guts to question his moves or oppose his decision, he would label them as ‘ Telangana Drohi’ ( renegade of Telangana) and isolate that person from the group and push them to self-defense. He has got enough expertise and is a past master of this ‘ My Way or Highway’ game.

But alas, time and tides change periodically. Telangana people have been losing confidence that, Telangana state can be achieved under the leadership of KCR! It’s due to this reason that YCP could spread its roots in this region. Political hangers-on who were disillusioned with Congress, TDP & TRS – are looking towards YCP with hope. Ignoring this changing reality in his landscape, KCR is under the mistaken assumption that, he is the sole representative of the Telangana cause, and its only voice.

For the past 2 years, he has been lying low and disappearing from public life when ever the things got tough & coming back and trying to bulldoze everyone to agree with him, when things turned favourable. The best example can be seen, in the way he has been playing with the political JAC under the leadership of Prof. Kodanda Ram.  KCR used JAC (Joint Action Committee) like a pawn, to disparage and attack other parties when he wanted and relegated them to dustbin after they have served his purpose. This is certainly insulting for JAC but they swallow their pride and self-respect for the sake of Telangana, ‘ the bigger picture’.

Using the deadly combination of Telangana sentiment and his own eloquence and clever rhetoric, KCR mostly had his way and managed that, there is no credible challenger to him as ‘ champion of Telangana’. Even people of Telangana have been enduring all his tricks and antics because, he was the one who put the Telangana’s ambitions on the country’s map. The recent ‘ No Confidence’ move too, comes under many such antics. And we at Andhra Jyothy mince no words and spare no one in calling spade a spade! And in showing politicians in their true colours  and helping them to decide.  For, believe, that’s what responsible, public interest journalism is all about!

INTREPID ANDHRA JYOTHY

Considering the relative numbers of each party, we made a prognosis 3 days ago in
our Andhra Jyothy paper, that this ‘ No Trust ‘ motion has no support and will receive
a knock out punch in the assembly. It seems, this has rubbed the self-proclaimed
Champion of Telangana ( whole & sole ) , KCR, on the wrong side! He expressed his
irritation towards us in a press meet and in his typical sarcastic language , tried to put us
down, wondering at the brain size of the owners & editor of our publications ( that is, me
& our Mr.K.Srinivas!) and sagacity! We learn that, he issued us some threats and stern
warnings ( with dire consequences, if you please! ) in the same press meet. More of it
later!

Any experienced journalist or a media house worth its salt can anticipate future
developments with some degree of accuracy and we at Andhra Jyothy are no
exception. Let’s take you back to March 2009 to cite an example. Just before the State
Elections, we wrote that, “ Mr.YSR would be fortunate if he loses the elections and
would be unlucky, if he wins “ . Because, by that time, the State’s finances are in tatters
and it was well nigh impossible to implement all the welfare schemes that Mr.Reddy
promised, to come to power. Mr.YSR realized this ( although he didn’t admit it in public)
soon after being voted back to power and started devising strategies to get rid of all
the welfare schemes, one by one, to revive the bankrupt state exchequer. For this, he
chalked out a program by name ‘ Raccha Banda’ to communicate the same to public.
In due course, he met with the helicopter accident and died. In death, he became an
angel of the poor and champion of the masses. Had he been alive, he would have been
crucified by one and all for failing to implement all that he promised, to come back to
power.

That is the track record of our ability to forecast developments in near future. We did the
same during this ‘ No Confidence Motion’ too. But, KCR is not used to take constructive criticism and embedded advice in right spirit. His inflated ego & feudal attitude will not permit that. Hence his caustic remarks on our media house.

With our under developed dumb brains, we could forecast correctly the fate of this no-
trust vote. KCR with his bulging brain and sharp wit, made a move that backfired on
him! Proof of the pudding, Mr.KCR, is in the eating. You are judged by the results and
not by your words. We hereby advise KCR to take tuitions in simple arithmetic, which
will stand him in good stead in 2014 elections, where he is dreaming to garner all seats
in Telangana. Till then, he can practice counting the Capsicums in his farm house, as
practice!

Lying low when things get tough, and showing highhandedness when the popular wave
favours him – has been his trademark style. Also, branding people who question his
rationale or motives as ‘ Traitors to Telangana’ and turning people’s frustration against
his opponents, has become a habit and he is a past master of this craft. But alas,
all these tricks and tactics will not work against Andhra Jyothy ; we are not afraid of
anyone, however mighty.

Contradictions continued in the same press conference. KCR said he would merge his
party into congress , if they announce a plan for Telangana formation. In 2 days, he
tried to pull the very same Congress led Government down with a No Trust vote! In the
hindsight, either the merger proposal is fake or this no-trust motion is! Not just press,
but even Telanana public are closely watching the bundle of contradictions called KCR!
Now comes the ‘ threats ‘ part and KCR’s warnings to Andhra Jyothy publication!

We again affirm, we are not afraid of characters like KCR or anyone more powerful.
Mightier than him have fallen harder, in the political roller coaster. KCR is under the delusion that he is the One & Only champion of Telangana and also aspires that, his word is the rule of law here! It’s possible that, In the name of ‘Telangana Agitation’ and prevailing sentiment, he had threatened and bullied many sections of people ( successfully) but such coercive tactics won’t succeed with a fair and bold publication like Andhra Jyothy! He has a proven track record of making use of Media when it suits him and dumping them later.

No one can fool all the people all the time. A few evidences can expose the true
colours. For instance, KCR’s reluctance to visit and console the Dilsukh Nagar bomb blast victims and their families – has not escaped the attention of discerning people of urban Telangana! That incident alone can show – how much LOVE he had for Telangana people. If anything, all the people who lost lives & limbs – are from Telangana and no one stopped him to be of some help! What has he done?

In times when media houses run from one sensational story to another , we at Andhra Jyothy believe in ‘ follow up journalism’. Our reporters visited each and every family of the victims who lost lives & limbs ( most of them were from very poor families and their plight is pathetic! ) in Dilsukh Nagar bomb blasts, published one story per day under title ‘ Gunde pagilindi’ ( a heart is broken), published their mobile number, bank account number, name, branch ( with their consent) and appealed to our beloved readers to contribute what they can, to these families to mitigate the pain. Readers can visit our Archieves online. Our love for people of this region, is unflinching.

Other media houses may be afraid of Mr.K.Chandra Sekhar Rao, may be because
they have properties, business interests in this area to protect or some political vested
interests. Andhra Jyothy has NONE of these and we are not afraid of any politician,
irrespective of their stature or nature. Beware of people who have nothing to lose!
PARAKAALA FLASHBACK : It seems he forgot how his party leaders solicited Andhra
Jyothy’s support during Parakaala’s by elections! We too responded positively and
gave enough space in our paper to their candidate, based on the premise that, KCR is
less dangerous to society than Y.S.Jagan, relatively speaking and based on the need to
uphold the cause of Telangana! Has it faded from his memory now?

OUR ADVICE TO KCR

We hereby advice Mr.KCR that, cultivating Capsicum crop in his farmhouse will not
fetch Telangana! Cultivate he should , but out of farmhouse! Cultivate good relationship
with other eminent leaders in all political parties, across Seema-Andhra area. Cultivate
good friendship with all regional party heads across the country, like Nitish Kumar,
Jaya lalitha, Mayawathi, Mulayam, Naveen patnaik etc. Cultivate, a sense of humility
and open mindedness to constructive criticism. And weed out, all misconceptions from
the minds of Seema-Andhra investors. You have the eloquence and are a gifted public
speaker and use it positively to convince others! Outside the farmhouse, there is a lot
of farming & cultivation to do in the political arena till 2014. KCR alone has to take this
proactive role. Because, he is the biggest strength to the Telangana agitation and also,
its biggest weakness! So if he doesn’t take this proactive role in persuasive politics,
state will continue to BURN on both sides and people will continue to hate each other!

THE END RESULT

All said and done, both YCP & TRS have only confounded the public with their no-trust vote and achieved little else. On many occasions in the 14 hour marathon debate that preceded the voting, YCP leaders were pushed to a corner in self defense and CM Kiran Kumar Reddy fully utilized the same. He scored some political brownie points based on his counter attack on T.Harish Rao, and the ‘ collar’ incident. At least in Seema-Andhra area and among MLA s from that region. Kiran proved that, when it comes to stubbornness, he is no less than the late YSR, in getting it his way. By categorically telling Harish Rao ‘ I won’t budge an inch to your threats. Not a single rupee will be released to your area ; do what you can! “, he tried to prove he is game for any sort of verbal duels and mind games.

Kiran Kumar Reddy proved that he is a tough nut to crack, by acting firmly in Akbaruddin Owaisi affair and now,by giving fitting replies to Harish Rao.

There is a reason behind the metamorphosis of the CM in recent past, from a non-entity to tough-as-nails guy. He is secure in his view that no one can dethrone him till the 2014 General Elections. Sense of security does wonders to one’s confidence. That’s not all, if luck favours, he is aspiring to become the CM once more after 2014 elections and is moving his pieces accordingly and trying to change his style of functioning. No one can deny him the credit for successfully facing 2 ‘ No Confidence motions’ in a year and successfully weathering the storms!

Time and tides, when kind, bestow heroic image on individuals, quite unexpectedly!

Week End Comment 02 March 2013

The  annual Union  budget for 2013-14, was much like an eagerly awaited Super Star’s blockbuster movie that failed at the box office and disappointed fans ! Budget this time  has left a lot to be desired and ended as a damp squib. Even the media , both print and electronic, was totally perplexed about this budget and were at a loss for words on how to describe this animal called Union budget 2013-14 ! This budget is baffling even seasoned journalist – who are breaking their heads on deciding an appropriate TITLE to this budget ! Even a good heading is eluding them. Expectant  Media men and women who came to office early in the morning and stayed till late night for soundbytes, let us a huge sigh of disappointment. This budget lacked a clear objective and is neither here nor there.
General opinion around any recent budget has been – either it has welfare measures to some sections or slapping of heavy taxes on some. We saw the evidences of neither, in this budget ! Going through the nitty gritties of the budget, Media came to the conclusion that, it’s been prepared , keeping in view the 2014 general elections hence, avoided any tough decisions and austerity measures. It appears to be a populist budget, without actually benefiting people in the long run ! How, we will look at it now !
As expected, usual melodrama ensued, in parliament. For this unexceptional, pedestrian budget, our Opposition prepared a script beforehand and started mouthing those same standard, clichéd dialogues, which confused the common man even further !  PM Man Mohan Singh beat his own trumpet ( or the party’s ) by calling it a miraculous budget. Actually, this budget has nothing to write home about , but opposition made a hue & cry, media analysts started drawing room analysis , and too many commentaries created a cacophony ! Even common people who do not understand the budget or economics jargon, were disgruntled and were murmuring.
The reason is , in recent past, governments were giving sops of one kind or the other to one section of population or the other and people got SO HABITUATED to it, that , the absence of new sops, has severely disappointed them !
Unfortunately in our country, all major economic policy decisions are being taken, for short term political benefits for the party in power, rather than for the long term well being of our country ! The result – is the present turmoil – which is visible for all of us to see.
For instance, the size of our annual union budget is Rs.15 lakshs crores. But the national debt is 45 lakhs crores, that is, 3 times more than the annual budget. Which means, all the sops and manna s that are thrown at us like biscuit crumbs, are out of the loans we have as a country and not from internal accruals ! This is eating the country’s economy like a cancer !
Imagine a family with , say, Rs.4 lakhs annual income. And their total debts  or loans amount o rs.12 lakhs. Family savings is zero and expenditure exceeds their earnings ! That, in a nutshell, is the plight of our Indian economy, which is 6th  biggest in the world !
Our Finance minister has admitted that , current account deficit is disturbing us. But he is not telling us why and how it came along ! We should decipher ‘ current account deficit’ as shortage of foreign exchange reserves ! When our imports far exceeds our exports, it creates high demand for dollars. The problems gets aggravated when Governments want to cover this deficit by going for further loans or, willy-nilly, inviting Foreign Direct Investment in various sectors. One immediate solution  could be- to encourage exports to off set the effect of imports on our Foreign Exchange Reserves. Or they can impose restrictions on certain imports. But Governments do neither. No one fathoms why ! Some ad-hoc , short term measures are taken to spruce up Forex Reserves. India had to mortgage its Gold reserves to world bank for Forex reserves, during late P.V.Narasimha Rao’s regime. Liberalization and economic reforms had to be introduced by PV, to get out of that precarious situation. Reforms attracted Foreign Direct Investment in select sectors and this averted the crisis temporarily and even, prospects for our country looked brighter for a while ! But let us also not forget that, the situation is VERY SIMILAR, in all the countries that took the liberalization path around that time.
But then, there were 2 types of counties. Those with a long term vision and those with ad-hoc ism. The first types , not only encouraged exports to maintain the balance between imports and exports, but also, invested heavily in the development of infrastructure sector, which resulted in all round growth. China, South Korea, Brazil etc are examples.
On the other hand, the 2nd time countries, who encouraged the culture of consumerism and personal spending are facing  frightening magnitude of National Debt. Our country comes in the 2nd catetory.
It’s been over 22 years since financial reforms were introduced in our country but India could never made great strides in increasing exports. This is precarious. We import, over 70% of the crude oil. That can’t be avoided, till alternative sources of power are made viable. To offset crude imports, we have to EXPORT SOMETHING ? To balance the import with export ;  to maintain Forex reserves ? It could be agricultural produce but that sector too is reeling in debt and farmers are committing suicides , due to Govt apathy.
It’s unfortunate that, none of the center’s finance ministers displayed any long term vision in this regard ! All parties are equal cultprits ! The country won’t be suffering from the present levels of current account deficit , if our Governments focused a bit more on India’s exports.
This lack of long term vision, this myopia that’s widening our deficits that can be dangerous , in the medium run. Consecutive government are staking our country’s long term prospects for the sake of votes in the next elections , with sops and pointless welfare measures, that is creating a BEGGARLY MINDSET is the people who starting looking for freebies from Govt , often !
After introducing the economic reforms, Governments should have minimized their spending, increased the earnings and observed austerity measures to fill the gaps of deficit. Instead, Governments encouraged reckless consumerism among its people, which became the new opiate of masses, compulsive indulgences and profligacy have become  new ‘ culture’ now. Incremental revenues to the Government, post reforms, should have been invested on strengthening our infrastructure sector. Instead, policy making was confined to throwing a few welfare schemes at the people, with coming to power in the next election becoming the primary agenda ! People too, began happily lapping up the sops available to them. Free lunches are never refused.
All parties unanimously agree, that agriculture sectors is in deep turmoil. But no one devises a surefire, long term strategy to get farmers and farming , get out of the rut. Leaders who are bestowing personal favours to people and are bragging about their achievements ; can they explain the repercussions and ramifications of their populist measure and what  untold harm they are inflicting on people in the long run?
Unable to fathom the long term harm to the nation – due to these  personal favours, innocent people are glorifying these parties and leaders , in their mistaken bout of gratitude ! Actually, there is a huge conspiracy at work here !
The best example that comes to mind is the farmers loan waiver scheme that’s introduced in 2008-09 by UPA-1. It caused the national exchequer, a whopping Rs.65,000 crores ! But this huge bounty, has FAILED to curtail the spate of farmer suicides across our country.
Farmers again are neck deep into debts and are hopefully looking forward to one more round of loan waiver from Govt, now that general elections are around the corner ! But how long this can go on ? A decent procurement price for their produce is all the farmer needs, to cover his investments and sustain their family with some profit. But Govts won’t do it, as the prices of grains go up and this will rub the city dwellers on the wrong side, whose number is huge ! Again, vote bank calculations are playing out here !   If, increasing the procurement price for the farmer is not viable, another possible alternative is – to bring down the expenditure of the farmer. Neither that  is being done !
Let’s take MGNREGA scheme, which was touted as the biggest  employment guarantee program in the world. Everyone knows, how this scheme is being misused, abused, and how many loopholes it has and how much leakage it’s resulting in. Yet, Govt is trying to appease the farm labour through this scheme ; forgetting, if farmer and farming are not taken care of , where is the farm labour ? His existence will be endangered. Unfortunately, this fundamental question is being forgotten, while implementing welfare scheme.
One very good suggestion going around is – align the MGNREGA with agriculture. So that, the farmer will save , at least around Rs.6,000/- per acre ; and that will be a GREAT BOON for the farmer. 2 problems are solved with one solution. And farmers can’t expect more from any Govt !
Apart from the Left parties, there has been a consensus among almost all political parties, that, MGNREGA scheme ought to be alighted with agriculture . Though previously opposed to this idea, now even Left parties are in favour of it. But the Center doesn’t seem to be serious about it.
Actually, food security scheme need not complement an employment guarantee scheme. Any 1 scheme will suffice. Now that employment guarantee is one, only the Center and God  know what is the need for the 2nd scheme !
When there is a pension scheme for people who can’t  work, and there is work for people who can, why should there be a food security scheme, which is such a huge burden on Govt exchequer ? Even welfare schemes should have some objectives, a target section of population, and CERTAINLY within some reasonable limits. Especially in a ‘ developing’ country like ours ! A country like America is reeling under the huge burden of food security bill. In U.S., unemployed people are handed food coupons. When Govt is providing an employment guarantee, where is the need for food security too.
In this context, it’s not out of place, to ask some tough questions and search for answers.
Does govt want to turn people lazy by giving these sops to even fit and able ?
Meaningless welfare schemes have turned people not only lazy, many are turning into compulsive alcoholics !  What right Govts have, to misuse public money in a way that turns productive people into drunkards ?
Recently, Mr.Chidambaram said, poor people are the third face of the Govt and when ever they need even a minor help, they look up to the govt. But then, who turned them into such dependent, helpless creatures ? Is it not Government ?
Why, so many welfare schemes for the past so many decades, have not alleviated poverty and made people’s lives, better ?
When it comes to Generation Y, our FM said, boys are impatient and girls are overly ambitious ! May be true ? But who turned them that way sir ?
In the name of economic reforms and globalization, who has fuelled the ambition and limitless greed among todays’ youth ? Is it not Govt and its policies ?
Who is responsible for the sorry situation, where, people are eaten alive by the monster called Consumerism, where,  expenditure is exceeding income ?
Whose fault is that, when people who do not need even one mobile phone, are flashing 2 gadgets each ?
Who created the Peer pressure among people, for conspicuous  & competitive consumption and showy lifestyles, even though they can’t afford it?
India, for the last few centuries, is known as a ‘ nation of great savers’ , while Americais known as a nation of great investors ! It’s depressing to see the good old Indian qualities of frugality and thrift, disappearing from our culture. Who is responsible for this ? Is it not Governments ?
Today, the youth is indulging in lavish lifestyles & reckless spending , like there is no tomorrow. They are crazily chasing foreign brands, from food products to cosmetics. Who should take responsibility for this ? If not Governments ?
Even though we have attained self sufficiency in food, our youth and children are running after western recipes like Pizza s and Burgers ? Who created this needless fascination for food ? This is basically junk food, expensive and a chief cause for obesity among urban upper middle class children !
The situation is INSANE, that women don’t feel beautiful if they don’t apply expensive foreign cosmetics , and children don’t’ feel satiated unless they gobble up foreign chocolates ? Who permitted this organized brainwash due to advertising industry via TV ?
Are not our rulers and governments to take the blame, for all the above social evils ? This is the result, when we invite FDI in non-technology sectors and our rulers fall flat on the feet of Foreign investors and in a way, sell the country to them !
Before so called ‘ REFORMS’, living a lavish lifestyle with borrowed money is unknown to us. This cultural shift doesn’t suit our ethos and is downright dangerous !
Our policy makers, thus, have pushed the country to the brink of both financial and cultural disaster and how are crying hoarse ! That, the country is in turmoil !
It’s high time, that our policy makers think deeply about permanent , lasting solutions to our problems, rather than resorting to ad hoc measures !
We are not suggesting that, governments have to spend MORE, for lasting solutions. Wiser use of existing budgets and  more sensible reshuffling will help greatly. Let us see how, in one instance.
Let’s take the Rs.65,000 crores that was spending on Farm Loan Waiver. Instead of an outright waiver, Govts can create that fund as a corpus for crop insurance and implement it meticulously. So that, the money will go only to those, who need it the most.  Secondly, the corpus could have been used as ‘ input subsidy’ which would create a better procurement price for the farmer, after the harvest. This way, ‘ Free Lunches’ to well off farmers and other leakages can be plugged.
People in power, ought to play fatherly role to people they rule. Taking tough decisions when needed, being a provider when necessary. They should not spoil their own children, with mindless welfare measures that would turn people irresponsible. Farm loan waiver is one such damning example. Politician-rulers, with their selfish agenda of winning the next election, splurged the public money irresponsibly over the welfare measures and this is making people too, irresponsible.
Free Power to farmers is the latest example. Now, our PM is saying, this is a problematic scheme and benefited no one and created huge burden on exchequer. We wonder, if our PM or Planning commission didn’t know that while introducing the scheme ? Or , the realization has come only now ?  Are not our rulers and policy makers to blame, for the nation wide power shortage the country is reeling under ?
The Rich in our country, are immune to all these problem. Governments try to appease the poor (even though that doesn’t help them out of poverty permanently), at least around elections. It’s the hapless middle class , both urban and rural, which suffers from the utter neglect of our policy makers. And farmers are a part of this middle class. Neglecting the villages and small towns inhabited by farmers and farm labour, catering all attention and funds only for cities, is a wrong strategy that fuels foot loose urban migration of farm labour and cities are bursting at seams with population. Law & Order becomes an unwieldy problem. Developing basic amenties and infrastructure in villages can mitigate this problem to some extent. And minimize urban migration.
Leaving , 2 biggest responsibilities of any Government to private sector, namely, Education and Health, is an unpardonable blunder that is repeated by successive governments, esp after liberalization.  When questions ( esp. in Andhra Pradesh), rulers readily quote, ‘ Rajeev Arogya Sree ‘ as if it’s a panacea to all problems ! But this Scheme left a lot of questions to be answered. For example :
How much money is being spent on this scheme by the AP Govt ?
Who are the beneficiaries ? And to what extent ? How much of it has gone to truly needy poor patients ? How much went to hospitals ? – No answers.
In the meantime, people who never entered the corridors of corporate hospitals developed so much fascination for them that, if & when a heart attack strikes, they are looking forward to using their Aarogya Sree to avail this benefit ! This is a crazy situation that defies all logic. The rulers, in the guise of giving welfare to the poor, opened the doors for new kind of corruption ridden plunder. People too have becomes such thoughtless freeloaders that, they developed this kind of attitude : “ We don’t mind if you loot the state funds ; if you can throw a few of those crumbs in our direction ,we will be grateful and all sins are forgiven’. This vicious circle made the whole society, corrupt ! Rulers, consciously corrupt and the ruled, unknowingly !
One of the biggest banes of economic reforms is that, all the valuable ( non renewable) natural resources of the country, went into the hands of a few select individuals and a few private sector institutions ! They started to wield absolute monopoly on country’s natural resources.
Recently, our CM stated that, ‘ There are no free lunches. Govt is not printing currency indefinitely’. And PM said, ‘ money doesn’t grow on trees’. Fair enough ! But did they now know these truisms when they introduced welfare schemes that turned people  into free loaders ?
It’s become a habit for the policy makers to spend reckless on welfare schemes, just before elections and wailing that the country is in the horns of crisis, after coming to power.
A few decades ago, India as an economy – was immune to the international  financial turmoil and was stable. But now the situation has reversed. On the one hand, we have recession staring at us & on the other, inflation is spiraling out of control ! Prices of essential commodities are soaring. It’s so tragic that, to fulfil their survival needs, people are having to resort to unethical practices ! An ethical crisis is gripping our society.  This is the reason why, corruption is finding news means and methods for spreading. In the past, people in power used to take bribe, for bending a role or for any out of the way help. But now, they are demanding their pound of flesh, even for routine duties ! That too, they are calculating the benefit that will be possibly accrued to the other person and demanding a percentage of it.
Recently, an ACB official friend of mine narrated an interesting incident to me ! There was a lady who inherited some land from her diseased mother and went to revenue office for registering that land on her name and revenue officials wanted a part of this land to be registered on the official’s name ! The vexed lady complained and the story came to light through ACB’s intervention.
A similar incident was narrated by a beleaguered farmer during the recent debate conducted on Farmers Problem by our ABN channel. Our Ruling Elite has to take the blame for this cancerous spread of corruption and employees becoming so ruthless and unscrupulous ! People all around, are losing their sense of Right & Wrong and societies who lose it, end up an anarchies !
When tried to curb, employee class are cocking a snook at the political class , saying that, if you are looting thousands of crores, what can’t we pocket a few lakhs ? WE are, after all, ‘ small fish’ ( a word that gained currency during Sri Lakshmi and B.P.Acharya’s arrests ). This has become a vicious circle with no end and we can’t blame any particular section of population for this crisis. We all have to take responsibility for this prevailing situation where, given a chance, every one loots every one else. No one is spared. No holds barred.
We are not sure whether our country needs more economic reforms but we as people, we as society, are in urgent need for Moral Reforms, on a drastic scale ! As a part of these reforms, ACCOUNTALBITY has to be build in people from top to ground level, across all sections. While admitting the country’s crisis situation, our FM Mr.Chidambaram could not forego his selfish agendas and narrow objectives ! To comprehend this , we need to read between the lines, of his taxation strategy.
The real reason why – the taxes were reduced on branded apparels is that, there is a plethora of branded apparel manufacturers based in Tamil Nadu and if charity does not begin at home, where else it should ?
While he is bringing many sectors ( including barbers) under Service Tax, he is leaving the advocates community untouched. Not that all lawyers are poorer than barbers ! There are some who charge Rs.50 laksh to Rs.1 crores per one day, excluding chartered flight chargers, for fighting celebrity crime cases. The real reason being, his wife, Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram is an advocate. A well paid and influential one at that ! what will the fate of our country, when such unabashedly narrow minded people become Finance Ministers and write our collective financial fate ? That is not enough. More conspiracies are in store for us & we have to open our eyes to them.
By allowing FDI in retail, they are going to issue licenses for Shopping Malls to be opened left , right and centre. There is going to be a mushroom growth for malls. When we go to our neighboring mom & pop grocery store run by local baniYa, we make a list of items we want to buy ,  on the back of an envelope, well in advance, and give the list to him to pack and deliver. We buy just want we need and in right quantities. No more . No less. In contrast, spaciously decorated stacked Malls trigger impulse purchases in customer. As a result, we go to buy something and end up buying many things we do not need. People who do not understand the damage caused to their purses by impulse purchase, are vying with each other in buying ! A kind of shopping race !
Electronic gadget companies started a new kind of legalized extortion, exploiting this shopping mania that’s running through our society today.
Let us take the mobile handset industry. The old models get dated and new models are being launched all the time. If you want to use a tried and tested old model, no spare parts are available, even in company authorized show rooms, in case it comes for repair. Thus, your old mobile becomes useless. So, whether you like it or not, you are forced to discard your good old model & are forced to buy the new android based one or an Apple. And are forced to pay though your nose, around Rs.25,000/- though you don’t need all the Features, those models offer you. In a nutshell, we are forced to pay and buy what we don’t need, just because a Cellular phone became an inseperable part of our lives.
The real conspiracy thus,  is – shortening  the Product Life Cycle and forcing unsuspecting people to buy upgraded models, periodically. A proof of this is, the average amount spent on buying a new mobile is more than the average amount you spend on usage charges paid to service providers.
In these circumstances, the only way to mitigate the disturbing current account deficit and to acquire adequate Forex reserves is – to  increase exports to offset the effect of our imports. To achieve this, one solution could be – to introduce new farming methods & improve irrigation -  to increase  our ‘ per acre ‘ grain output and to become the agricultural export capital of the world. 2nd solution is – to make our products good enough to compete in the export market, in terms of quality, price and value for money, is another. At present, we don’t export anything much other than software services. We need to expand to other products.
Accountability has to be reintroduced right from top echelons of power down to bottom. Everybody should be made to explain their actions and rationale behind them. Both people and Governments should go back to the good old qualities like saving and frugality and observe austerity measures, to create a saving surplus for the country.
In economics , there are Needs , Comforts & Luxuries. We the people have to recognize that, by treating comforts and luxuries as NEEDS, and getting addicted to them, we cause a moral degeneration in society and we lose our peace of mind too in the process, in the relentless pressure to keep up with the Joneses.
The Rulers, by playing Ducks & Drakes with public money and throwing it after welfare schemes, they brought the country to the brink of  bankruptcy. If we start eating the Core, there won’t be anything left tomorrow.
Let it be any party ; the ruling elite has to realize, that the biggest resource that our country has – is HUMAN RESOURCES ! Hence they should scrupulously avoid any policy decisions that will render the people ineffective and useless !
By their malicious schemes, Governments turned people into a nation of lazy drunkards. What else would happen when, on the one hand, governments dole out welfare schemes and on the other, they keep liquor shops open 24X7 ? Doesn’t that turn people into alcoholics ?  Any business in this country has one day ‘ weekly off’ & work for 6 days a week. The only business that has no weekly off is Liquor business. It’s open all the 7 days a week.
Now, Prohibition is not a solution ; it’s not feasible and has failed all over the world, as history proves amply. But govts should take measures that would at least limit the consumption. Like , for example, opening the Wine Shops only after 7 PM and closing by 10 PM. Giving them a 2 days off in a week.
It’s not fair on part of policy makers to announce unviable welfare schemes and then start selling liquor to gullible people, to compensate the outgo for the exchequer , due to these schemes. Basically, to overly dependent on wine shops, for the revenue to the Govt show the BANKRUPTCY of ideas , people in the power are suffering from. It’s a moral and mental bankruptcy. As long as people get attracted to the freebies without reading between the lines, the present turmoil will continue. Quality and standard of people’s lives are unlikely to improve, in spite of Loan Waivers or Free Rice through PDS.
The powers that be – have to go to the root cause, to find a lasting , permanent cure to the problems faced by our country now. Ad Hoc measures won’t help. It will be too late if there is more delay , in this direction !

KOTTA PALUKU – 24.FEB.2013. A.J. SUNDAY

Where ever we come across religious extremism , anywhere in the world, we can’t miss the double whammy of poverty and discrimination being the driving forces.
It would be unwise to assume, that governments  can eradicate terrorism completely, just by using oppressive force of the state power , without  addressing the twin maladies first, and going into them deeply. It’s not just a law & order problem, but a social evil to boot.
Just think about it ! Is it really possible for the police force, to control terrorism, in a country like ours, which is bursting at the seams with population ( and rampant urban migration), and where, urban sprawl is going beyond control and cities expanding madly without methodical urban planning ?  Can police force alone do it?
NO ! We all need to create a society, where people simply stop extending help & cooperation to terrorists slyly, where, terrorism will wither away on its own !
“ Blood shed – is inevitable ! “ is the dialogue from a priest, in a Telugu movie titled, ‘ Muraari’, to the grand ma character ! Some ancestor in their family committed a blasphemy to God & as a result ( past Karma) all the descendents in that clan meet sudden, premature deaths !
Coming back to the victims of bomb blasts – those who died & those who were critically injured, for no fault of their own, we wonder, what blasphemy have they committed , which religion have they offended, what sin have they committed, which country they have scorned, to meet such a fate ? Those, who were resorting to these ghastly, meaningless attacks on human life – what have they achieved ?
Investigative agencies have naturally come to the conclusion that, it’s the hand work of Islamic terrorist outfits. But even muslims lost lives in the Dil Suk Nagar blasts, didn’t they?
By killing innocents, with these aimless destructive activities, what to the perpetrators hope to achieve ? Which religion, which God will approve these barbaric homicides ? When, & how are we going to put an end to it ?
We have to say that, those who are carrying on these massacres in the name of Jihad or Allah, are not the genuine followers of the faith !
Prophet Mohammad ( may his soul RIP) had preached that, no matter what, innocents, children and women should never be harmed. What is now happening in the name of religion is, exactly opposite.
We all have seen, what the Taliban fundamentalist movement had done to Afghanistan as a country & as a society ! It’s rich culture, heritage & history has been wiped away ! The country is now in ruins and so are its monuments and wonderful architecture. Their society has become a grave yard of suicide bombs & unmanned drones !
People who have seen the recent Kamal Hasan’s flick, ‘ Vishwa Roopm ‘ , will want to visit Afghanistan once ! It’s mountaneous terrain, plateau, and architecture of the period, has been so captured beautifully ! Today, no international tourist prefers to visit that country, due to what the Taliban has reduced the country to ! Living & sleeping with guns every day, living a pre-agricultural nomad life, being deprived of even 3 square meals a day, and fearing for life on hourly basis, lurking in caves, living a literally barbaric life, what have these Taliban warlords achieved ? God’s utopia ?
Having destroyed Afghanistan, driving it back to stone ages, the Taliban has now seeped into Pakistan. In all the recent blasts by suicide bombers there, who were dying ? Were they not muslims ? Perhaps they belong to a different sub-sect, like Shias, Ahmadias etc. All the victims were the followers of Islam.
We were told, right from the childhood, that, being born as a human being the greatest gift and that human life is precious ; what are we doing with it ? What are we using it for ? For killing others and dying a ghastly death, ourselves ?
Even carnivores in the wild, refrain from hunting, after their hunger is satisfied. But when will the hunger of these blood thirsty , religious fanatics be satisfied ? After turning an entire nation into a graveyard ? What do they want ? By blasting themselves and killing thousands with every blast, do they want to wipe away every trace of human life and civilization, off the face of planet earth ? If that is the motto, why  name as ‘ Jihaad’ ? They can state their mottos in far more straightforward manner !
God forbid that, but if one looks at the developments of recent past in Pakistan, it appears, it’s not far away from becoming a ‘ failed state’.  It’s on the verge of self destruction. It would be no surprise, if our neighboring country vanished from the world map, in near future !
Religious fanatics today, have created a situation where, every non-islamic country in the world eye an askance at muslims and looks down on them with suspicion. Thus, these Wahabbists & Salafists are inflicting untold misery and great harm on their Muslim brothers and eroding image Islam, in the eyes of the world. That is their contribution !
Strangely, we can’t even say, they are resorting to this mindless violence, to spread their religion. For, even muslims were dying in these blasts. Esp in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some monotheistic religions would like to spread their faith and we can’t blame them for that.
If we look at history, we see that, emperors of bygone era indulged in wars, either to spread their religion or to loot the wealth of the other kingdom ! But those preindustrial era and methods are gone and no longer applicable.
Let us look at Christianity closely. They try to spread their religion too and conversions are indeed happening. There are so many sub sects in Christianity too. Like protestants, catholics, born-again Christians etc. They are not slaying each other, among themselves , are they ? Where Christianity is underdeveloped, they have been pumping large funds quite generously into those countries, contributing to the health and education sectors of that country, and trying to spread themselves in a peaceful, non violent way. We can find nothing wrong with that approach ( now, this is another huge, debatable topic in India ! ).
Our India is noted for our secular values inherent in our society.Every one has the right to  practice their religion and can canvass it too ! For that matter, In Saudi Arabia, where Islam was born, we now see Churches sprouting here and there ( perhaps to facilitate large number of European and American oil exploration work force ).
Why isn’t hard line religious fanaticism not visible in oil rich Arab countries ? Why do we see this hydra headed monster of terrorism – only in India / Afghanistan / Pakistan / Nigeria ? Why not in Kuwait, for instance ?
People in Arab countries are generally having decent standards of living due to oil reserves there. Poverty is marginal ( confined, usually, to migrant workers). Because of oil wealth, people there are enjoying good lives, all basic aminities and hence, naturally, if people life a good life, they start VALUEING human life dearly !
Let us, for once, take the example of Rayala Seem and look at the changes that society underwent in the last few decades, and how they dealt with the menace of factionalism …
( Office work has to take over. I will send the rest of the article on 28 th. Please read till here and (a) send me your comments and (b) suggest me any required changes.
It’s not  a word to word translation – in some places, I took some liberties, to protect the essence of expression in English.
C.V.Ramana.
+91.9855.74112.
0.93476.38442.