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Pawan removes beard, turns philosophical!
Following the conclusion of polling for Andhra Pradesh assembly, both the Telugu Desam Party headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy are expressing confidence, at least for the public consumption, that they would come to power in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has conceded defeat as its official spokesman G V L Narasimha Rao said YSRC is going to win the elections and BJP would replace the TDP as the main opposition in the next five years. The Congress is nowhere in the picture at all.
What is surprising is the silence being maintained by power star and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, who boasted earlier that his party would come to power in the elections.
He quietly went to the Dasavathara Venkateshwara temple at Mangalagiri and paid obeisance to the god. He served food to the devotees and also carried offering to the god.
Interestingly, Pawan, who had been sporting long hair and bushy beard, was found with a neat haircut and beard completely removed. He got back his filmy look though he appeared to have a little chubby face.
However, what was glaringly visible in his face was a philosophical look. Just before he visited the temple and had a haircut and shave, some photos released by party showing him sitting alone and listening to radio at his Mangalagiri party office clearly depicted that he was looking sad and philosophical.
Apparently, Pawan is reconciled to the fact that Jana Sena Party has failed to make any impact on the electorate and it might not win even half a dozen seats.
He is trying to put a composed look, but it is time for him to make some serious introspection as to whether politics is his cup of tea or not.
May be, he comes out with his stand soon after the results.
An unsatisfactory week for the BJP
The week when the polling began wasn’t a good one for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
For one, the party ran afoul of the Election Commission on Narendra Modis biopic and a TV channel named after the Prime Minister.
For another, the UP Chief Minister’s differentiation between “Bajrang Balis” or Hindus and “Alis” or Muslims came under the commission’s scrutiny.
This was the second time that Yogi Adityanath had referred to the two communities in such terms which carry a subtext of aggressive strength where the Hindus are concerned and of being aliens in the case of Muslims.
Topping these setbacks was the Supreme Court’s decision to reopen the Rafale case. As the controversy about the aircraft drags on during the poll season, the BJP cannot but be on tenterhooks all the time as to what revelations may come out in the courts.
Already, the rejection of its claim that the “stolen” documents presented to the courts about the deal by the petitioners lack validity has shown the government in a poor light.
It is part and parcel of investigative journalism that the outing in the media of classified documents is based almost always on their acquisition by an intrepid journalist with the help of official “sources”.
From this standpoint, all the celebrated revelations were based on “stolen” documents, whether they were the Pentagon Papers, which showed that the US government “systematically” lied on the Vietnam situation, or the Watergate scandal which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
While the impact of the Rafale affair will only be known over a fairly long period of time, the immediate focus will be on the ongoing poll process, especially on the performance of the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Already, there have been complaints from Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere about them, with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu being particularly upset, presumably because of the seemingly stiff challenge which he is facing from the greenhorn challenger, Jagan Mohan Reddy of the YSR Congress Party.
EVMs are a matter of pride for the country, for they have shown how quickly the voting process can be conducted and the promptness with which the results are announced when it takes days for the other countries to complete the entire exercise.
It is up to the Election Commission, therefore, to set at rest all the questions about their unreliability, especially when about 20-odd parties, including the 134-year-old Congress, want to get rid of the machines and return to the paper ballot system.
That would be a regressive step in view of the huge and growing interest in the dutiful exercise of one’s franchise, which led to the polling continuing till midnight in some Andhra Pradesh constituencies.
What the high turnout ensures is that the outcome will be as fair as possible by ensuring that the exigencies of a division between two supposedly monolithic blocks will be less pronounced than in the case of fewer votes being cast.
As a result, the results will more closely reflect the ground realities, thereby demolishing overblown assertions.
Nowhere will this possibility be better tested than in UP, where the BJP has reportedly been drawing satisfaction from the Congress’s ability to undercut the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine.
However, if the Congress had gone along as a junior partner with the the alliance, it would have been an artificial formation with a short shelf-life like that of the Janata Party of 1977.
Instead, a satisfactory turnout in UP is expected to provide an uncluttered picture of where exactly the four or five contestants stand.
Since this will be largely true nearly all over the country, the 2019 general elections are likely to provide a fairer picture of India’s political scene than what the 2014 contest did with its heavy tilt in Narendra Modi’s favour.
It is on the basis of the “real” strength of the various parties as revealed by the outcome that they can formulate their future strategies.
The BJP will be among those which will have to return to its political drawing board to assess how it has fared in an election which did not see a “wave” in its favour.
Will such a relook entail a reassessment of the party’s hardline nationalist agenda which envisages scrapping Articles 370 and 35A relating to Kashmir and introducing a citizenship bill which excludes everyone except Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists?
Will the Congress realise that it still has a long way to go, especially in the heartland states of UP and Bihar before it can aspire to enter the corridors of power in Delhi?
Will the regional parties come to terms with the fact that for all their local influence, they are destined to remain confined to their little bailiwicks, underlining the country’s inbuilt linguistic and cultural divisions? Is this good for federalism?
The answers will be given in the coming weeks by the hundreds and thousands of ordinary people braving the sun to make their choices known.
Reel Buzz: Mahesh Sends Feelers To Trivikram!
A movie with Trivikram used to be on the priority list for Mahesh for a long time. However, the duo didn’t team post Khaleja in spite of both the parties saying that they would work together again.
Harika Hassine Creations, which is considered to be Trivikram’s home banner was supposed to make a movie with Mahesh.
However, they had taken back the advance given to Mahesh that reportedly hurt the Superstar.
From then on Mahesh stopped talking about Trivikram’s project and also didn’t do any ads under his direction. But they both worked on ad film recently.
According to the buzz, Mahesh himself initiated this and called upon Trivikram to direct the ad.
Mahesh is looking to clear the differences with all the top directors as he wants to make movies at quick succession. He is not committing to any director without listening to the script.
So, Mahesh is keeping his options open with all the directors which would help him find more scripts than usual.
Central forces needed to protect EVMs!
YSR Congress party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijay Sai Reddy demanded that the Election Commission of India deploy central reserve police forces for the protection of electronic voting machines in the strong rooms.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Saturday, Sai Reddy requestd that central forces should be deployed at the strong rooms where the EVMs are placed.
He expressed no confidence on state police protection, as Naidu was making allegations against the Election Commission stating that the polling was conducted one-sidedly.
He said the YSRC had genuine apprehensions about the deployment of the state police forces for safeguarding the strong rooms since the chief minister himself was doubting the EC and conducting dharnas.
“Therefore, we request the deployment of central forces like CISF, CRPF etc at strong rooms in place of state police force or state armed reserve in the interest of everyone, particularly when the chief minister is asking the CEO not to obey the instructions of the Central Election Commission,” Reddy said.
He also demanded installation of CC cameras round the clock for monitoring of strong rooms keeping in mind the volatile situation prevailing in the state as well as non-cooperative attitude of the state government towards EC.
“Since the waiting period is unusually long, it calls for exceptional measures as suggested. We would be grateful if EC considers our request and initiate appropriate measures to safeguard the EVMs and closely monitor the strong rooms,” he said.
Alia Bhatt Gets Rs. 5 Crore For #RRR
Alia Bhatt playing one of the female leads is an attempt to get pan India appeal for Rajamouli’s upcoming multistarrer #RRR.
Alia’s presence will help this South film to grab attention in Northern pockets. She is currently one of the most sought after actresses in B town.
Despite her busy schedules, Alia agreed to be a part of #RRR as she wants to work with Baahubali director. She has been roped into play Ram Charan’s love interest in the film.
Although Alia has a limited role to play in the plot, she has been offered a whopping Rs. 5 crore for it. Alia is happy to get such an awesome deal that also fulfils her dream of starring in a Rajamouli’s film.
Meanwhile, the hunt is on for another female lead as Daisy Edgar Jones couldn’t join the sets of #RRR on time.
Rajamouli is reportedly looking to rope in an Indian actress for the role given the problems and limitations of signing up a foreign actress.
Silent celebrations in Jagan camp!
The polling for the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections concluded in the early hours of Friday and a record 79 per cent of 3.96 crore voters exercised their franchise. The fate of the political parties is sealed in the electronic voting machiners.
But celebrations have already begun in the YSR Congress party camp, though silently.
According to highly placed sources, there was distribution of sweets in the Sakshi, the media house promoted by YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and also in the office of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) promoted by political strategist Prashant Kishor.
On Friday, Jagan went to the office of IPAC and took part in the celebrations. He thanked all the IPAC team members for the cooperation. He promised to engage IPAC services in the next elections in 2024 as well.
According to sources, I-PAC team members reportedly told Jagan that the party is going to win not less than 130 assembly seats and 22 Lok Sabha seats, as per the reports collected from the team’s field staff. Particularly, youth and unemployed had voted for YSRC in big numbers, they said.
Apparently, Prashant Kishor team told Jagan that the party workers and IPAC team members successfully ensured that all the YSRC supporters exercised their franchise enthusiastically and thwarted all the attempts of the Telugu Desam Party to prevent them from voting.
The team, however, cautioned YSRC leaders to be cautious till the last vote is counted, since Naidu is an expert in manipulation even in the counting process.
EC has lost credibility: Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said the Election Commission (EC) has lost its credibility as “it functions on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his office”.
Raising questions on the poll panel’s independence and impartiality, Naidu told reporter outside the EC headquarters here that the level playing field — an essential attribute of democracy — “now stands disturbed”.
The Chief Minister was speaking after his meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief said officials in Andhra Pradesh are being transferred in an arbitrary manner and the Chief Secretary (Anil Chandra Punetha) has been replaced by a person (L.V. Subrahmanyam), who was accused along with YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy in a case. He described the ousted Chief Secretary as an honest officer.
Dubbing the acts of the poll panel as “unfair”, Naidu said the Election Commission has lost credibility among the people of the country and its image has been dented in their eyes.
He also alleged that the poll panel observer in the state has links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Recalling that all opposition parties had demanded for 50 per cent matching of EVMs with VVPATs, Naidu said that increasing that number from one to five by the Supreme Court is “insufficient”.
Accusing the Commission of “misleading” the top court by saying that matching of EVM votes with VVPATs at 50 per cent polling booths would delay the counting of votes by six days, Naidu said the counting of votes when ballot papers were prevalent used to take not more than 24 hours.
The Chief Minister stated that the government of India is interfering in the affairs of the poll panel, thereby destroying democracy, electoral process and the level playing field.
Retired Babus Condemn Chandrababu!
The unsavoury comments made by Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu against chief secretary L V Subrahmanyam incurred the wrath of retired IAS officers.
As many as 13 retired IAS officers including I V Subba Rao, S Bhale Rao, K V Rao, T S Appa Rao, A K Parida, S K Sinha, Sutheertha Bhattacharya, Vidya Sagar, M G Gopal, C V S K Sarma, Vinod K Agarwal, J C Mohanty and Dr Vijaya Kumar wrote a strongly-worded letter to Naidu for making derogatory comments against Subrahmanyam.
It may be mentioned that Naidu had called Subrahmanyam a covert of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and a co-accused in Jagan’s case. He also questioned Subrahmanyam’s appointment as CS and his meeting with DGP R P Thakur.
The retired officers said Subrahmanyam was known as an outstanding officer and the high court had quashed all the cases against him. They wondered how he could be called an accused.
“We request the chief minister to avoid such comments in future and withdraw them at once and apologise,” they demanded.
They also found fault with Naidu for going to the office of Chief Electoral Officer and talking to him in strong words.
“It is also not in the best traditions of administration and will send a message of intimidation. We request the chief minister to desist from such actions,” they said in the letter.
IT Raids on Lord Shiva Temple, CM Furious
In the native village of JD(S) supreme HD Deve Gowda, Haradanapalli, the Income Tax officials have conducted raids at Lord Shiva temple on Friday. Politically, these raids have invited huge criticism from JDS leaders. From past few days, IT raids took place at residences of Deve Gowda’s close aides and JDS-Congress leaders are strongly opposing it.
According to wife of temple’s priest, 2 IT officials have initially performed searches at the priest’s residence and later entered temple premises. In the end, the Income Tax authorities made an attempt to enter the sanctum sanctorum (Garba Gudi), by the priest’s family denied them from entering that place. ‘Finally, they left this place empty handed,’ said Neelamma, wife of temple priest. She revealed to media that IT officials have questioned them whether Deve Gowda’s money is in their residence.
Reacting to the episode, Deve Gowda’s son and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy made some harsh comments on Bharatiya Janata Party. ‘The IT officials haven’t spared the Hindu temples as well. BJP claims that it is a Hindu party and today, it has motivated IT officials to raid our temple. They have left the temple empty-handed and their action of desecrating temple will totally eradicate BJP,’ attacked CM of Karnataka. He has alleged, in his election rally, that BJP is trying to harrass opposition through IT raids and added ‘previously, raids were on houses and offices but it is now extended to temples.’ Both Congress and JD(S) are demanding an action against the IT officials who involved in the raids at Lord Shiva temple.
In one of his recent interviews to a TV channel, HD Kumaraswamy said that Narendra Modi is not going to come back to power.
‘SOTY 2’ Posters Trolled for Unusual Outfits
Karan Johar’s Student of the Year in 2012 has impressed the audience, especially younger generations with its fictional romantic comedy-drama. Now, the filmmaker is all set to come with its sequel, Student of the Year 2. The trailer of the film and posters of lead roles Tiger Shroff, Ananya Pandey, and Tara Sutaria has been unveiled today.
Just a few minutes post the release, netizens started pointed out an unusual thing on the posters and that is, the outfits of the actors. One user vividly asked, “Where in India do we have schools where students wear a dress like this?”
Another tweet that went popular was “Is it a school for education or a school for branding?” The poster looked hardly like a real college drama and the uniforms barely matched with any institution’s decent and formal uniform.
Tara Sutaria’s pink bra-let and a pair of metallic shorts and Ananya Panday in a non-sync dress made everyone talks on how Bollywood can go far to make women objectified. People started questioning which school has such uniforms and one of the netizens threw satire that probably it is Karan Johar’s private school.
Sekhar Master & Jani Master Are Just Passing Clouds
One of the most successful comedy show, Jabardasth, that is being aired on ETV from last 6 years, is right now going through a change of colors. And this led to huge rumors, but it looks like these changes are just temporary.
With both Nagababu and Roja, the popular judges of the show, getting busy with their political commitments, the Jabardasth show has now seen two new judges. While the show ‘Extra Jabardasth’ saw Sekhar Master and senior actress Meena as the judges, for the upcoming ‘Jabardasth’ we have Jani Master coming up in place of Sekhar. So, are these changes permanent?
A source from the Jabardasth show shared that both Sekhar and Jani are only passing clouds, and Meena is also a guest for a few days. For the next couple of weeks, these three will be seen in the seat of the judge, but later Nagababu and Roja will join their team back.
Even before heading to campaigning, Nagababu is said to have confirmed that whether he wins the MP seat or not, he will continue as the judge. Same is the case with Roja, who has already judged the show for the last five years despite being an MLA.
Photoshopped Pic: Deepika-Ranveer Supports BJP
As we saw how popular celebrities have joined political parties right before the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, yesterday, news on Deepika-Ranveer joining BJP went viral and pictures on the same were on rife. The images made fans shock as the couple never hinted about joining politics.
However, later it was confirmed that the images were blatantly photoshopped. The photoshopped pictures were stated asking people to vote for them as they have joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The duo was seen wearing orange dupattas with ‘vote for BJP’ written on them.
But the picture was originally taken from Deepika and Ranveer’s visit to the Siddhivinayak Temple post their wedding. The saffron dupattas were also from the temple’s traditional clothes which they wore while entering the holy place.
Deepika and Ranveer, who tied the knot on November 14, 2018, invited bigwigs from Bollywood industry and even PM Narendra Modi have graced the occasion.
Pic Talk: KTR gives ‘Bear-Hug’ to son
TRS working president KTR is a doting father. On number of occasions, he shared his feelings about his kids openly in the social media. The other day, he attended the graduation ceremony of his daughter and added that it was a welcome break from his hectic political schedule.
Now that the elections are over, KTR is spending some quality time with his family as it is also holiday season for the kids. Like father, KTR’s son Himanshu is also quite popular in the social media. He flashed in the headlines couple of times, appearing at cultural events that happen in the city.
Himanshu is thirteen years old now and in the latest pic, he looks taller and bulkier than his father. In this photo, KTR is seen happily resting on the shoulder of Himanshu and KTR once again displayed his wittiness. “When you’re just thirteen son stands taller than you and all you want is a bearhug,” tweeted the TRS working president.
They says kids refresh your mind and certainly it is the most needed for KTR now being a busy politician. Hope he gets used to them more so often.
Kareena-Saif romantic pic is out for an ad shoot
Nothing is cuter than a couple that is truly in love! Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan proved the statement innumerable times. Their PDA is adorable just like their son Taimur. The duo has set some standard couple goals with their beautiful love story.
The couple has now come together on screen for a commercial shoot. The recent picture of them near poolside is trending now. Kareena is seen in a light blue swimsuit and Saif looks into her eyes romantically. The picture has been first shared by the Filmfare’s official Twitter handle.
Kareena poses gracefully while resting on a beach bed and Saif looks handsome like never before in a dark grey gunji and light green bottoms. The look Saif gives towards Kareena raised the intimacy levels in the picture.
On the work front, Kareena is all set to work with Diljit Dosanjh, Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani in Good News under Karan Johar’s production banner. On the other hand, Saif too has been busy shooting for the second season of Sacred Games, which will premiere soon. He will also be seen in Hunter, a movie based on the life of a Naga sadhu.
Mega Star Wants ‘Bonus’ From Superstar
The other day Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was upset that the producer or anyone else from the industry did not appreciate the fact that Big B’s last outing ‘Badla’ collected Rs 100 crore at the box office. Reacting to this Bollywood’s King Khan, Shah Rukh who is the producer threw the ball on Big Bg’s court, saying that he is waiting outside the residence of Bachchan’s residence for a party.
This tweet turned into a friendly banter between Big and SRK. Questioning Shah Rukh, Big B tweeted, you have produced the movie (Badla), we worked for it and did promotions without expecting anything. Now you want a party from us? To this SRK replied that without you (Big B) there is no ‘Badla’ and because of you the film scored a hit. So it is you who have to throw a party.
Big B got witter for SRK’s tweet. “Badla is one of the highest grossing small-budget film in the history of Red Chillies Productions (Shah Rukh’s production house). King Khan should acknowledge the success and give us bonus.”
Hire A Better Support Team Prabhas
It is already known that Baahubali Prabhas has made his debut on Instagram, and his PR folks have sent the news everywhere as to how the happening star made more than 7 lakh followers in a day. But here is what many netizens are actually thinking about this.
From national media to local media houses, many spoke about this Instagram account, but when people searched for it on the application site, they have to just scratch the heads. Because none mentioned that “@actorprabhas” is the ID they are talking about. Without giving out this ID, how come normal people will know about it?
And secondly, when the likes of Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu made their debuts like this on Twitter and Insta respectively, the speciality of their accounts is that they have a ‘verified tick’ mark. From day without a single follower, they have tick marks to their accounts and Prabhas’ account lacked that.
Many are wondering if the PR team of Prabhas has done only half job and advising the actor to hire some better people.
