Gutur:Minister Kanna outwits Rayapati & Dokka

                                                      
GUNTUR: In a virtual show of strength,  Kanna Lakshminarayana stole the thunder from his arch rivals in the party, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao and Dokka Manikya Varaprasad, during the whirlwind tour of Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar here on Friday.

He stayed away from the hectic assembly session for two days by getting permission from the CM to make the programme a success. Anticipating the absence of local Congress MP Rayapati, Kanna lined up two MPs --Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and Lagadapati Rajagopal from Kamma community - at the speaker's programme. In addition, he prevailed upon his political mentor and former TDP MP Yelamanchili Sivaji to translate Meira Kumar's public address into Telugu.
Dokka, hailing from Madiga community, has good contacts with Meira Kumar, who helped his rise in politics thanks to his community connections. Sensing trouble, Kanna got the arrangements made by an NGO, All-India Samata movement led by Pushpa. By giving importance to the NGO, Kanna succeeded in getting the names of his rivals deleted from the list of invitees. Dokka cried foul. "I have not received any invitation. Perhaps, they (NGO) did not bother to invite me as the function was not organized in my constituency," said Dokka. Sources said Kanna's attempt to install Jagjivan Ram statue was made only to take on Dokka. "Kanna wanted to put an end to Dokka's interference in his constituency affairs in the guise of Dalit rights by making Meira Kumar's visit a prestigious programme," insiders in Kanna camp said. 

In an attempt to scuttle Kanna's attempts, Rayapati wrote a letter to Meira with a request to postpone the tour. He had also tried to pressure her by informing her that he would be out of the city during her visit. Subsequently, rural development minister Dokka lobbied for cancellation of the programme as the statue of Jagjivan Ram was donated by his rival and Supreme Court advocate Pushpa. 

Meira Kumar herself showered praise on the minister saying that his 'commitment' and dedication to the welfare of Dalits was reflected in the enthusiasm of locals. Meira Kumar's tour was mired in controversy ever since she had agreed to visit Guntur to unveil a statue of her late father Babu Jagjivan Ram as the entire schedule was finalised at the behest of Kanna Lakshminarayana.

Uttar Pradesh assembly polls: Polling for the 7th or final phase in progress

                                                            
Polling for the 7th and final phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections covering 60 constituencies began this morning amidst tight security arrangements. Polling on 60 seats in ten districts began at 7 am and would continue till 5 pm, chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha said.
Commission expects heavy turnout in this phase also in keeping with the trend seen in the earlier rounds where voting percentage has witnessed an unprecedented rise.

Besides Samajwadi Party's Muslim face Mohammad Azam Khan, who is contesting from Rampur, fate of minister in Mayawati government Omvati from Nagina seat, BSP MP Jugal Kishore's son Saurabh from Kasta and Rastriya Parivartan Dal head D P Yadav, considered heavyweight from Sahsawan seat, would be decided in this concluding phase.

More than 1.8 crore voters in this phase of polling, which was earlier scheduled for February 4 but was later postponed to March 3, would decide the fate of 962 candidates including some political veterans.
This final phase covers Bijnore, Moradabad, Bheem Nagar, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Badaun, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri in which more than 1.82 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise.

The impact of BJP MP from Aonla Maneka Gandhi, her son and BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, Union Minister and MP from Dhaurara seat in Lakhimpur, Jitin Prasad and Congress MP Azharuddin in their constituencies would be keenly watched.
In the 2007 assembly polls, BSP had emerged the biggest party bagging 27 seats, while SP and BJP had got 17 and nine seats respectively.

Aakash tablet PCs from BSNL ready

                                                                  

Tired of waiting for Aakash tablet PCs? BSNL has announced bookings for its tablet PCs, which will be available in three models.

WS 704 C, which comes with a 7-inch capacitive touch screen, has a 512 MB DDR 3 RAM, a 4000 mAh battery, and both front and rear cameras while WS802 C, which comes with an 8-inch capacitive touch screen, has a 4200 mAh battery.

 

The basic model will be available for Rs.3,499 while the high-end models, T-Pad WS 704 C and T-Pad WS802 C are priced at Rs.10,999 and Rs.13,500 respectively.

The basic model T-Pad IS 701 R comes with a 7-inch resistive touch screen, 256 MB DDR 2 RAM, 3000 mAh battery, Android 2.3 operating system, 0.3 MP front camera, and 32 GB external memory. It works on Wi-Fi and GPRS with 2 G SIM to be provided by BSNL. The HDMI feature enables the tablet PC to be connected to a TV.

“Online booking for booking of BSNL tablet PCs has opened on Thursday. The modalities for booking through the Customer Service Centres are being worked out and they will be opened within a week,” Telecom District General Manager P. Naga Raju told media

The tablet PCs are manufactured by the Noida-based Pantel Technologies. Customers can book BSNL tablet online by logging onto the company's website www.pantel.in. They can select the model of their choice and fill their personal details, address, and mobile number. On booking the orders, they would be given a unique product booking ID through a phone call or email by the company.

Those who wish to book through phone can dial the company's toll free number 1800-103-7739 and submit their details.

Meanwhile, the Union government has announced that bookings for Aakash-2 will begin in Apri

Nellore:Parties wary of caste polarisation in Kovur

                                                            

The polarisation of different castes has picked up momentum giving a tough time to the major political parties in the run-up to the Kovur by-election campaign.

 

Recreated by the favorable caste equations, YSR Congress party leaders are talking about the victory of their candidate Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy with a huge margin. Amidst this, the other two parties, TDP and Congress, are closely watching the polarisation of backward classes. Pattapu Kapus, who take a common decision at the time of polling, have not yet made up their mind on which party to support.

As per the final electoral roll, the voters in Kovur assembly segment come to 2.08 lakh. An estimate puts the number of Reddys approximately at 25,000, Malas at 26,000, Yanadis at 17,000, Muslims at 14,000, Yadavas at 15,000, Madigas at 12,000, Balijas at 12,000, Kammas and Gouds at 9,000 each.

Yanadis, who are another dominant factor in Kovur segment, are traditionally known to be supporters of the TDP ever since the entry of NTR in political arena. But this time some of them are stated to be in support of ruling Congress because of matinee idol Chiranjeevi.

All eyes are on the numerically strong castes and communities like Reddys, Malas and Yanadis, whose number is around 20,000. Also, Madigas, Muslims, Yadavas and Pattapu Kapus assume importance as their number is above 10,000 in Kovur segment. The main political parties started wooing these sections by approaching the community leaders and also by making promises.

The re-grouping of voters along caste lines is seen as an unprecedented development now. Similar polarisation took place in the election when the Reddy Congress confronted the Congress (I) led by Indira Gandhi. The former got total support of Reddy community but it had to lose with the other numerically strong and politically active caste, Malas, sailing with the Congress (I) along with different other groupings.

This by-election becomes unique and quite unlike the days of the Reddy Congress. Majority voters of the two dominant groups are seen as gravitating to the YSR Congress. Also, the Muslims, who are sizeable in number, are largely sailing with the Jaganmohan Reddy's party.

Hyderabad:Speaker fires16 Jagan MLAs

                                                       
In a most incisive move of the rebels’ saga, the AP Assembly Speaker, Mr Nadendla Manohar, late on Friday night, disqualified 16 Congress MLAs from their membership of the House and accepted the resignation of Sobha Nagireddy, ex-MLA of the Praja Rajyam.
 the party whip.
The 16 MLAs disqualified are: Dharmana Krishna Das (Narasannapet), Golla Babu Rao (Payakarao Pet), Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose (Ramachandrap-uram), M. Prasada Raju (Narsapur), Terlam Bala-raju (Polavaram), D. Sucha-rita (Prathipadu), Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy (Mac-herla), Balineni Srinivas-ulu Reddy (Ongole), Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy (Udayagiri), G. Srinivasulu (Kodur), Gadikota Srikanth Reddy (Rayachoti), Akepati Amar-nadha Reddy (Rajampet), B. Gurunadha Reddy (Ananta-pur), Kapu Ramachandra Reddy (Rayadurg), Y. Chennakesava Reddy (Yemmiganur) and Ms Konda Surekha (Parkal).

All the disqualified MLAs, loyalists of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, had violated the party whip and voted in favour of the No-Confidence Motion that was moved by the Telugu Desam on December 5 last year.
The Speaker’s action was inevitable as he had no option but to axe the members as per 2(1)(A) and (B) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Though a petition for disqualification of the membership of Ms Nagireddy was also filed by the Praja Rajyam, the Speaker, fearing a legal problem since the merger of the PR with the Congress is still under consideration, thought it better to accept her resignation.
The Speaker, who had completed all the necessary formalities by hearing both the sides on February 2, took further legal opinion before announcing his decision on Friday.
Thirteen of the Congress legislators have been disqualified under 2(1) (B) for violating the party whip and three others — Konda Surekha, Amarnadha Reddy and Gadikota Srikanth Reddy — under 2(1)(A) for indulging in anti-party activities by openly associating with another party, and also under 2(1) (B) for violating

Bypolls will now have to be held for 17 Assembly seats in one go in 11 districts within six months i.e., before September 2, 2012.