In Telangana Rashtra Samithi government headed by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, anybody can say anything and get away with it, without bothering how it will hurt people.

Take the case of Telangana minister G Jagadeesh Reddy, a close confidant of KCR. For the second successive term, he became a minister in the KCR cabinet and was given the plum portfolio of higher education.

On Tuesday, when he was sworn in as a minister, Reddy was cloud nine and he didn’t even know what he was saying.

When some media persons approached him for his comment on the composition of the cabinet, he said it was a good and balanced cabinet with due representation to all sections based on merit.

The scribes asked him how the cabinet could be called a balanced one as there was no representation to women in the cabinet.

The minister commented: “Mahilalu intlo unnaru kada (Women are at home, no)?”

This has obviously shocked the scribes, one of them being a woman journalist.

She said: “Sir, what do you mean by that?” Reddy said: “Yeah, women are backing us,” and left the place without further comments.

Fortunately for him, his comments were not recorded on camera, but the reporters immediately posted them in social media and within hours, they went viral with thousands of people trolling the minister.

Telangana Mahila Congress president Nerella Sarada demanded that the minister withdraw his comments and tender an unconditional apology to women.

“It is surprising that the chief minister did not consider even a single woman MLA as fit to become a minister. It is an insult to all the women. The three women MLAs in TRS should resign from the party,” she said.

Farmer Kotaiah from Guntur district committed suicide but many expressed doubts over this incident. The main opposition and it’s mouthpiece claimed that the farmer Kotaiah was threatened and beaten up by the police for not giving land for the control room and helipad for the CM’s chopper landing. Upset with the police’s action, Kotaiah committed suicide is what, YSRCP alleged.

However, countering the allegations, AP IT minister Nara Lokesh said, Kotaiah’s farm land and helipad has no connection and shared couple of pictures of the newly constructed helipad. He also clarified that the police who got to know about Kotaiah consuming pesticide, rushed to the spot and one of the police personnel carried him on the shoulder till the vehicle which was arranged to shift him to the nearest hospital.

There are reports that police have manhandled farmer Kotaiah quite badly in their style and so he died. Condemning these reports, Guntur SP Rajasekhar released the video of a constable carrying Kotaiah on his shoulder. The video also reveals that one of the personnel asking what happened to the farmer and the other replies that he drank pesticide. Despite police efforts, Kotaiah breathed his last.

Getting to know about this AP CM Chandrababu Naidu ordered an enquiry and announced Rs 5 Lakh ex-gratia to the farmer’s family. Kotaiah body’s sent to post-mertem and based on the report, an action will be taken said, minister Prathipati Pulla Rao who visited Kondaveedu village on Wednesday morning.

On behalf of YSRCP, Jagan too appointed a fact finding committee to probe Kotaiah’s death. With TDP and YSRCP leaders reaching Kondaveedu village, there is a tense atmosphere. The police have deployed additional forces in the village to make sure no unwanted incident reports.

Hyderabad: BJP leader G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday demanded SHE Teams of Hyderabad Police to book Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for not giving representation to women in his cabinet.

Kishan Reddy said the Chief Minister should be charged with discriminating against women.

SHE Teams is a unit of Hyderabad Police formed for women’s safety and it is aimed at curbing their harassment.

Kishan Reddy, a former legislator and former President of BJP’s Telangana unit, told reporters that Chandrashekhar Rao insulted women, who constitute 50 percent of the state’s population, by not providing them representation in the cabinet.

There was no woman among the 10 ministers inducted by KCR, as Rao is popularly known, in his cabinet on Tuesday.

The BJP leader pointed out that the previous cabinet of KCR too had no woman.

“For five years, there was no representation for women. This is happening nowhere in the world. Even Islamic countries have women Ministers,” said Kishan Reddy

He also slammed KCR for not giving representation to tribals in the cabinet and also for keeping all key portfolios with him.

“He expanded cabinet after 66 days but did not find any Minister capable of holding portfolios like finance, revenue, irrigation and industry. What was the need for expansion?” he asked.

Former Minister and senior Congress leader D.L. Ravindra Reddy is set to join Telugu Desam Party today. According to party sources, Ravindra Reddy is said to be lobbying for the Mydukur assembly ticket which even the TDP High Command is considering.

However, another person vying for the Mudhukur Assembly seat is Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav. There are rumours that he is putting pressure on TDP leadership to allot that constituency to him.

It is learnt that the party leadership is not keen on Sudhakar Yadav for the assembly ticket and hence, may choose to give it to DL Ravindra Reddy. However, after today’s meeting there will be clarity. Sources in Ravindra Reddy’s camp say that he is confident of getting the Mydhukur Assembly ticket.

Director Boyapati Sreenu has quickly moved on from the disastrous failure of Vinaya Vidheya Rama and the financial consequences and fights that took place later. He is now busy coming up with his short political films.

According to the grapevine, Boyapati is concentrating on making election films for Telugudesam Party. Already he has shot more than 5 films for the party with a message that would influence voters to bat for Telugudesam in the upcoming general elections. As the final cut of these ads is ready, now they are sent to AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for final ‘go’.

Once Naidu gives his approval, then we will be seeing Boyapati’s creation for Telugudesam party on small screen. After wrapping the work related to these political films, the director will move to work on the script of his upcoming movie that features Nandamuri Balakrishna in the lead.

The facts are out in the open. The bitterness is well-known and hence, now he is back in politics to avenge the loss of his time and image in Telugu politics. Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, who is the son-in-law of TDP founder and former CM of united Andhra Pradesh, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR) and co-brother of AP Chief Minister and TDP Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, is making his political moves carefully and quietly.

After the death of NTR, Chandrababu Naidu staked claim of TDP and became the successor of NTR’s legacy, sidelining Daggubati Venkateswara Rao. This snubbed NTR’s other daughter (Purandeswari) and her husband Venkateswara Rao. They joined the Congress led by Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy as he successfully dethroned Chandrababu in 2004. She became a minister in the UPA regime. The Congress was the obvious platform for the Daggubati family to challenge Chandrababu as they did not find a place in the TDP.

However, post-bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, with no option left, Purandeswari quit Congress who was decimated in the truncated AP and joined BJP. Realising that the BJP doesn’t have much chance in Andhra Pradesh and that their political future is at stake, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao’s only option to challenge Chandrababu was to join YSR Congress.

Ever since his entry into YSRCP, Daggubati has become a ‘Chanakya’ in the party. His entry into YSR Congress party benefits him in two ways – One, he can take political revenge of the TDP Chief who took centerstage and hogged the limelight by keep TDP intact and second, he can play a crucial role in helping Jagan win in Andhra Pradesh.

Unveiling his plans one by one gradually, he is playing a key role in helping YSR Congress poach Telugu Desam Party’s MPs and MLAs. And, how? He is using his connections and lobbying intensely with ‘Kamma’ industrialists to join YSRCP in order to secure the finances for election campaigns. On the other hand, he is targeting MPs in Telugu Desam who could be easy turncoats and help YSR Congress.

According to inside reports from YSRCP, there is news that Daggubati may have got hold of TDP’s list of candidates who will be getting tickets and hence, is poaching those who may not get tickets and turning them against Telugu Desam. While there are a slew of MLAs and MPs lining up to join YSR Congress, it definitely looks like Daggubati’s plans are currently working for Jagan.

However, one still needs to understand how Daggubati will survive in a party where NTR’s second wife, Lakshmi Parvathi, also is a member. As someone who opposed her marriage to NTR and took the family’s side in staging a coup along with Chandrababu, it is still a surprise on how long will the Daggubatis go on in YSR Congress party!

The probability of renaming United Progressive Alliance(UPA) to the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) is on talks. The idea of renaming it could have probably arisen in order to avoid further corruption scams and scandals associated with it.

In case if the name is changed, all the old parties in the UPA would soon position themselves by the new name, be it before or after elections. These prior parties have earlier decided to fight in unity against BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With a lot of political baggage linked with UPA, the idea of modifying the name has arrived post the group discussion between parties. Last week, Mamata Banerjee had announced a pre-poll tie-up and a Common Minimum Programme on February 25 or 26 after a meeting among Opposition leaders. The meeting was attended by the Congress President Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Delhi chief minister, and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. But the decision to finalize a pre-poll tie-up is not yet made as there are various arch-rivals to compete for the upcoming pollls.

As per the inside sources, the TMC had approached the BJP leader and ex UM Yashwant Sinha to draft a document even before Mamata Banerjee announced about it. But when asked about the same to Mr Sinha, he said no one had approached him for drafting any CMP. He also confirmed that he would not be able to attend a possible meeting on Feb 25 as he have already made other commitments.

Finally YS Jagan is going to spend some quality time with his family. With padayatra for a year and half or so, Jagan was confined to the roads and after wrapping it up, he got busy with political developments of Andhra Pradesh.

Jagan was supposed to visit London in the first week of this month but got delayed due to unknown reasons. On Tuesday night Jagan left to London along with his wife Bharati. There he will be meeting his elder daughter Varsha Reddy who is pursuing her studies in London School of Economics.

For about a week, Jagan will be in London and his return is expected on February 26th. After the arrival, YSRCP boss will kick-start the election campaign.