Tuesday 1 May 2012

Will not join YSRC, announces Vamsi

                                                                                        
Putting an end to the speculation that Telugu Desam urban president Mr Vallabhaneni Vamsimohan will join the YSR Congress, Mr Vamsimohan made it clear that he is not going to leave the Telugu Desam.
Mr Vamsi, who contested unsuccessfully from Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency, said that he met YSR Congress president Mr Jaganmohan Reddy casually as he is known to him for the past several years.
Denying the campaign that he received a show cause notice for his action, Mr Vamsimohan said that he has not received any notice so far. If he receives any show cause notice, he will meet party president Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu and explain the actual situation.
The TD leader said that former MLA Mr Vangaveeti Radhakrishna is also his friend and he tried to bring him to the TD fold but failed.
However, earlier, reliable sources said that the TD high command issued a notice seeking an explanation from Mr Vamsi over his meeting with YSR Congress president Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Speculation was rife when Mr Vamsi met Mr Jagan during a rally organised by former MLA Mr Vanga-veeti Radhakrishna to mark his entry into YSR Congress in Vijayawada on Friday. When Mr Vamsi met Mr Jagan, the sudden development surprised not only the TD circles but the YSR Congress leaders also.
Mr Vamsi’s supporters in Gannavaram constituency are said to be exerting pressure on him to join the YSR Congress. His close associates are also collecting information about Mr Vamsi’s chances after joining the YSR Congress.
It is said that Mr Vamsi had consulted Gudivada MLA Mr Kodali Nani also over joining the YSR Congress.
Several TD leaders are expressing ire over the unilateral approach of theparty district president and Mylav-aram MLA Mr Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and keeping a distance with him. Some of the leaders are not attending the programmes being organised by the party president.
Differences cropped up between Mr Vamsi and Mr Uma in the past.

State to ban ads to Jagan’s Sakshi paper, TV

                                                                                             
The state government has decided to stop all advertisement support to the Jagathi Group of Companies owned by YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
According to sources, the information and public relations department prepared a draft Government Order on Sunday evening, in consultation with the law department, to stop all advertisements to the Telugu daily Sakshi and Sakshi Television.
An official associated with drafting the Government Order told this correspondent that the state is of the opinion that the Jagathi Group was established with ill-gotten money and the CBI has prima facie established that the investments by various companies was in exchange for favours done when YSR was the CM.
Ads to Sakshi: G.O. likely in 2 days
An official source revealed that it was the opinion of the legal experts that when the CBI has established a prima facie in the alleged offences against the Jagathi Group, it is unethical to continue support to the publication and broadcasting company by giving it government advertisements. Sources say the Government Order will be issued in a couple of days.
from DC

Congress not to drag YSR into poll campaign

                                                                                              
HYDERABAD: The Congress Coordination Committee on Sunday deliberated on the list of candidates for the bypolls and while chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana are slated to leave for New Delhi on Monday to get the names finalized by the party high command, it was decided that the Congress poll campaign will steer away from criticizing former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

Apart from the CM and Botsa, those present at the meeting that took place here on Sunday evening included AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, deputy chief minister C Damodar Raja Narasimha, Rajya Sabha MP Chiranjeevi, former PCC chief and MLC D Srinivas and former minister Md Shabbir Ali.

According to sources, the names of almost all the 18 candidates have been more or less finalized though that did not stop lobbying by various leaders including minister Galla Aruna Kumari for her son Jay Galla for the Tirupati assembly seat. The leaders dwelt at length on the three assembly seats in Kadapa district, Rayachoti, Rajampet and Railway Kodur. For the Nellore Lok Sabha seat, the candidature of Rajya Sabha member T Subbirami Reddy has already been finalized.

In an interesting development, newly inducted Rajya Sabha MP and former minister Renuka Chowdhary called on the chief minister on Sunday morning and was closeted with him for over an hour. After the meeting, Renuka told the media it was a courtesy call.

Meanwhile, Telangana Congress MPs on Sunday met at the residence of MP Vivekananda. The meeting assumed significance in the wake of moves by the MPs to intensify their agitation for the separate state which includes breaking away from the Congress and floating a regional outfit. The leaders went ahead with their meeting despite Rajya Sabha MP Palvai Govardhan Reddy conveying to them that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was unhappy with them for disrupting the parliamentary proceedings in support of their T demand. Later, the Telangana MPs decided to boycott the parliament session tomorrow. 

from times of india

Jagan may not campaign in Parkal byelection

                                                                                      
HYDERABAD: Parkal byelection in Warangal district� has become dicey for YSR Congress party. Though the sitting MLA Konda Surekha claims that she had resigned in pursuance of a call by the TJAC to quit in demonstration of commitment for Telangana cause, no one is ready to believe her as she is known to be an ardent follower of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
With the TRS and BJP deciding to contest the seat,� YSR Congress is planning to send party honorary president YS Vijayamma to campaign for Surekha since Jagan, who is identified as a votary of samaikyandhra cause, might work counter-productive.
In fact, Surekha, supporters say she too wishes that Jagan does not campaign for her because of obvious reasons though her loyalty to YSR family remains unswerving. Vijayamma will be stating the party's� stand on Telangana - it would not oppose if Telangana is given since the party is not in a position to deliver Telangana.
The TRS, TDP, BJP and Congress are yet to finalise their candidates for the seat. The YSR Congress leaders are hopeful that there is a large population who are admirers of YS Rajasekhara Reddy but they too want Telangana state. In such a scenario, a majority of votes from these sections might go in favour of YSR Congress party since the YSR Congress is not against Telangana state, they aver.
from ibn live

Andhra govt disowns sops announced by YSR govt for companies

In a fresh twist to the alleged illegal assets case of YSR Congress party president Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy, the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has sought to disown the decisions taken by the previous Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government in doling out sops to various companies that had invested in the business empire of the Kadapa MP between 2004 and 2009.

The Kiran Kumar Reddy government, which has sought a legal opinion on the notices served by the Supreme Court on six ministers and eight IAS officers in Jagan's disproportionate case on March 12, decided not to argue their cases as it amounts to the present government endorsing the YSR's decisions. Instead, the government asked the ministers and IAS officers to argue their cases individually and give an explanation to the Supreme Court as to why they had to issue the orders in favour of companies that had invested in Jagan's business.

                                                                                             
On Friday, all the six ministers -- Kanna Lakshminarayana, Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, Sabita Indra Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, J Geetha Reddy and Dharmana Prasada Rao -- who held key portfolios in the YSR government and were part of the decisions taken by his cabinet, besides eight IAS officers -- C V S K Sarma, S V Prasad, Y Srilakshmi, B Sam Bob, K Ratna Prabha, Adityanath Das, P Samuel and Dr Manmohan Singh, indicated to the Supreme Court that they had engaged their individual lawyers to argue their case.

As per the Supreme Court order, the ministers and bureaucrats have to submit their explanation to the notices before April 30. The case is expected to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court next week.

The lawyers would be working under the guidance of senior Supreme Court advocate Harish Salve. "The legal expenses of the ministers and bureaucrats will, however, be borne by the government," sources in the State Secretariat said.

On March 12, the Supreme Court, which admitted a special leave petition filed by a Nellore-based advocate P Sudhakar Reddy, sought to know why it should not order a probe by CBI into the role of these six ministers and eight IAS officers in the issuance of 26 controversial GOs, favouring several companies that had invested in the business empire of Jaganmohan Reddy during the YSR regime between 2004 and 2009.

The petitioner contended that the ministers and IAS officers should also be held responsible for all the decisions taken by YSR as they were also signatories to the note files and government orders favouring various companies that had invested in Jagan's firms as quid pro quo gesture. He pointed out that the CBI had not proceeded against them despite having sufficient evidence that they had helped Jaganmohan Reddy in accumulating illegal assets.
While the six ministers who still continue in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government holding different portfolios accepted the government's order to argue their cases, the bureaucrats have taken the matter seriously. The six IAS officers wrote to Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi a couple of days ago seeking to know why they should have to undergo the scrutiny of the Supreme Court for the decisions taken by the government. "We had not issued the GOs in our individual capacity, but as part of the decisions taken by the government and the cabinet. We only discharged our duties and issued orders after following necessary procedures as per the cabinet decisions," they argued.

They asked the government to either defend the GOs issued to benefit certain companies or keep them in suspension till the CBI investigation is completed. "A criminal investigation on such a GO would be a mockery of justice if the operation of that order runs parallel to the criminal investigation," the six IAS officers said in their letter
from India today

Andhra Pradesh: Jagan Mohan move jolts Chandrababu Naidu

HYDERABAD: The cold war between Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Nandamuri Harikrishna and NTR Jr has come in handy for YSR Congress Party to aggressively execute its “Operation K”.
YSRCP is trying to lure several Kamma leaders whose affinity is for the Telugu Desam, in order to strengthen its base in Krishna and Guntur districts, a stronghold of Kammas. That seems to be the reason behind the YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy hugging TDP Vijayawada Urban unit president and NTR Jr’s close follower Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan, a Kamma, in full public glare.
Kodali Nani, MLA and another close follower of Harikrishna and his actorson, seem to have counselled Vamsi to hold his horses.
But, according to sources, Vamsi is firm and is likely to make some positive remarks on Jagan in his written explanation in reply to the show-cause notice issued by the TDP.
But, the Vamsi incident is not the first fallout of YSRCP’s Operation Kamma.
When YSRCP was launched, it lured Makineni Peda Rathiah who had strained relations with TDP chief Naidu. But Rathaiah’s honeymoon with Jagan did not last long and he quit the YSRCP.
Now, the YSRCP is sending feelers to another Kamma leader in Guntur district with the offer of a Lok Sabha seat. If the leader, who has some personal image, joins the YSRCP, it will be a big catch for Jagan.
In Tenali in Guntur district, Nannapaneni Rajakumari’s daughter and son-inlaw have joined the YSRCP.
In north coastal Andhra Gadde Babu Rao has already quit TDP and is on the verge of joining the YSRCP.
Alarmed by the attempts to wean Kammas, Chandrababu Naidu has embarked on a counter strategy as part of which he has met actor Mohan Babu in Tirupati. But when Mohan Babu almost decided to join the TDP, Jagan entered the scene. He and his wife Bharati visited Mohan Babu’s residence Sunday. With Mohan Babu and Jagan having family relations, the former has to now choose between YSRCP and TDP.
Sources said Jagan is casting his net over Kamma leaders in Congress too.
from ibn live