Pranab Mukherjee will be India’s 13th president. The former finance minister Sunday comfortably crossed the halfway mark with 558,000 votes to secure his journey to Rashtrapati Bhavan.Soon after he was declared president-elect, the 76-year-old Mukherjee said “he was very happy”.His rival, former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma, was way behind with 239,966 votes as counting continued, Mukherjee’s polling agent Pravin H. Parikh told.

“He has crossed the halfway mark. He is the president-elect,” Parikh said.Though the result was clear, votes would continue to be counted till all the ballot boxes were opened.Speaking to a Bengali news channel Mukherjee “thanked everybody for their love and support. I thank all the people of my country”.

“In the last one month I have covered the entire country. And with the emotions and feelings that I have sensed in the common people revolving round this presidential election, it felt like it was not a presidential election but a general election. “I am very happy, and I will strive to live up to the expectations and faith that people have bestowed on me,” Mukherjee said in his first comments.Celebrations also broke out outside his Talkotra Road residence in the national capital.

Home Minister P.Chidambaram and Defence Minister A.K. Antony met the seasoned politician at his residence to convey their congratulations after Mukherjee emerged the clear winner.”He will make a very, very good president,” Antony said, while a beaming Chidambaram said it was an “emphatic” victory.

Mukherjee, who was most recently finance minister, is one of India’s most experienced politicians. He was widely considered the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s most trusted and able strategists.

His candidature was backed not just by members of the UPA but also the Janata Dal-United and the Shiv Sena, which broke ranks with the opposition NDA. Besides, the CPI-M, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party were among those who supported him.

Self proclaimed strong man of Rayalaseema and Minister TG.Venkatesh gave a shocking call to people a week back to shoot down IAS officials who refuse to get things done. Many wondered what could be the real reason behind his call as it was his government at center and state and he is the minister. Some feel that he might have been insulted by the Govt officials or some might have refused to curry favors with him. Whatever may be the reason his statements provoked entire IAS who demanded apology from him but he was unrelenting. Miffed by his behavior, they met CM Kiran Kumar Reddy and requested him to reign in his mister or sack him. However TG.Venkatesh stood by his statement and reiterated that he did not mean only babus but also leaders who don’t work for people.

When ordinary people or Anna Hazare or Ram Dev Baba gives similar calls to shoot babus who don’t address peoples issues and sack even the corrupt ministers, ruling UPA and Congress Party and its leaders will be up in arms against them. One wonder why TGV is giving such strong statements. Many feel that he is not satisfied with the portfolio and the ministry he is having at present and so issuing statements that put CM. Kiran and his party in trouble. TGV thinks that he is becoming hero in the eyes of people, but people have seen through his political intentions, as was seen in his recent flip flop on separate rayalaseema and royal telengana issue.

Congress Party many not open its mouth on Telangana but the party’s T-MPs, MLAs and other self proclaimed leaders give coloring in front of media that they have got assurances from her highness Sonia Gandhi. However any person with little bit of understanding of the party’s game plan understand that it is more interested in saving its governments at state and center rather than grant statehood to Telangana.

This was the reason that whenever there was any trouble for its Govt at the Center or it wants the votes of its MPs hailing from this region, arrange for meeting with Sonia where not even lip service is done on the issue. Sonia and the central leadership well experienced in tackling rebellion by hook or crook, use various means and carrot and stick methods to bring these MPs and MLAs to their side. Watching them how they managed parties like SP, BSP, TMC and leaders like Mulayam, Maya, Mamata , managing T MPs is child’s play for them. If they defy Sonia’s orders central agencies like CBI, IT, ED, ACB and others will be unleashed.

When national leaders like Laloo, Mulayam, Maya fell at Sonia’s feet it would be hard to imagine that MPs from telangana defy the high command. Many feel that Congress renowned high command is managing TRS chief KCR who blows hot and cold when it was irrelevant than relevant. It is all congress’s ‘Power’ play with the people of Telangana. When general elections near in 2014, one can witness more powerful ‘P’ play from Congress.

With Telangana agitation taking centre stage again, the AP Congress Chief has once again started behaving like the cat on wall. We are talking about Botsa Satyanarayana, and his latest comments about T-state.

‘If Hindi speaking people are having 13 states in India, why shouldn’t Telugu people have two states?’ questioned Botsa, giving his indirect support to the T-sentiment. Earlier too, Botsa made such comments and faced the ire of Andhra people, as he hails from the coastal region. If the PCC chief is so clear about his stand, why is he telling all the time that high-command will take about decision but not the state. Why couldn’t these state rulers give a clear cut statement about the issue directly?. These are the questions that ruling the minds of Congress MLAs from both the regions. More than anyone, politicians are the ones who are not able to show their faces to people regarding this issue.

Like all the time, Botsa changed his words at the end saying that he is just giving various thoughts, but everything is in Sonia’s hands. Cat on the wall!

Veteran heroine Vijayashanti does not even believe in her brother regarding the promises about T-state. While she aimed to talk against YSR-C, she criticized her own party people, shockingly.

‘May be KCR is having belief that Telangana will come in 3 months. But I don’t believe his words. The agitation should be intensified, else we cannot get separate state’, stated Vijayshanti about her political brother and TRS chief. Already, everyone is eagerly waiting for KCR to come out of shell as he is not coming out into media after prez-polls to talk about his prediction on T. Now Vijayashanti’s comments are adding fuel to the speculations that KCR’s strategic silence is politically motivated. If his own party people including his sister do not believe his words, when will T-people believe KCR?

Time for TRS to re-work their strategies as just taking pot-shots at other parties will not work for life time.

YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is not in a hurry to make his way into the Telangana, but wants to go in a systematic way to capture as many seats as possible in this region.

Knowing his limitations of not taking a clear stand on the Telangana statehood issue, Jagan is said to be moving his pawns very carefully. He is in the process of identifying safe seats where the Telangana sentiment is not very strong and hence, there are more chances of winning.Most of these seats are in and around Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, parts of Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar districts closer to Rayalaseema and Andhra regions.

For example, the YSR Congress party has fair chances of winning Secunderabad, Secunderabad Cantonment, Jubilee Hills, Khairatabad, Kukatpally, Serilingampally, Uppal and L B Nagar constituencies in Hyderabad, besides Parigi, Rajendranagar, Vikarabad and Tandur constituencies in Ranga Reddy district.

Similarly, the party would focus on bagging Alampur, Atmakur and Kodangal constituencies in Mahbubnagar, which are closer to Kurnool district in Rayalaseema. In Nalgonda district, too, Jagan has the possibility of capturing Nagarjunasagar (closer to Macherla in Guntur), Nalgonda (Komatireddy factor), Nakirekal and Kodad where the Telangana sentiment is not very high.

“If Jagan party can win at least 25-30 seats in the Telangana region, it will definitely come to power in the state in 2014 elections. This is of course, only if the state remains united. If the Centre decides to bifurcate the state, then Jagan would have to confine his power only to the Seemandhra region,” an analyst said.

A retired IAS officer today filed a criminal case against an Andhra Pradesh for making certain “inflammatory and provocative” statements against bureaucrats and exhorting people to “shoot” non-performing public servants. B V Papa Rao, who served as Home Secretary of Assam and also with the United Nations during his career, said in his complaint that the statement of Minor Irrigation minister T G Venkatesh attracted criminal liability under various IPC sections.

At a public meeting in his native Kurnool on July 13, Venkatesh had remarked that non-performing bureaucrats should be shot dead. After the remark kicked up a controversy, the minister remained unapologetic and went on to say that even non-performing politicians should be shot dead. He also refused to retract from his statements, Papa Rao said and attached various newspaper reports quoting the minister with his complaint.

“It clearly indicates that Venkatesh does not believe in the rule of law. A minister, who has taken solemn oath to function in accordance with Constitution, making such public statements will have serious and dire consequences on our criminal justice system,” Papa Rao pointed out.

“The minister, being a publicly elected member of the legislature, is in an immensely persuasive position in the society. By making such provocative remarks, the minister clearly encourages gullible public to take the law in to their own hands. He has endangered the lives of the government officials, who according to him are non performers,” he said.

At least eight persons, including three children, were killed in two rain-related incidents in the city today, police said. The incessant rain has left the state capital totally battered with many low-lying colonies in areas like Uppal, Manikonda, Malakpet, Meerpet, Uppuguda and Ramanthapur flooded. A woman and her three children were killed when a wall collapsed at Adityanagar. In a similar incident at Balanagar industrial area, four more labourers were killed, police said. “We have identified 53 low-lying areas in the city.

We have formed special teams to take up relief measures and also set up six control rooms to attend to emergencies,” Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner M T Krishna Babu said. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation with senior officials here this morning.

The state government has put all the District Collectors on high alert following heavy rains since yesterday and Met forecast that rains would continue in the next 48 hours. GHMC Commissioner briefed the Chief Minister about the relief measures undertaken in the city even as 11.4 cm of rainfall was recorded since yesterday. The Chief Minister directed the authorities to focus on sanitation and health-care and clean up drains on a war-footing to prevent water logging and flooding.