Despite a personal request from Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, senior legislator from Chirala constituency Amanchi Krishna Mohan quit the TDP on Wednesday.

Amanchi, who left for Hyderabad in the morning, sent his resignation letter to Naidu in which he said he had no option but to follow the suggestions of his followers.

He charged some party leaders with interfering in his constituency and were not allowing him to implement the government schemes, thereby affecting his credibility and hence, he had decided to quit the party.

Within an hour of sending his resignation letter, Amanchi drove straight to Lotus Pond and met YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who formally invited him into the party.

The MLA is expected to join YSRC formally at YSRC Shankharavam meeting at Ongole shortly.

Amanchi, who won from Chirala as an independent in 2014, joined the TDP later. However, he realized that he would lose his seat if he continued in the TDP and hence, has joined the YSRC.

Last week, Amanchi met Naidu, who requested him not to take hasty decisions and assured that he would take care of the MLA’s interests. But Amanchi seems to have made up his mind to join the YSRC.

Soon after Amanchi quit the party, Naidu deputed his senior colleague Karanam Balaram to Chirala and ensure that the party does not crumble in the constituency, following Amanchi’s defection.

Being a senior leader, Karanam is expected to undo the damage, at least to some extent.

Bengaluru: Infosys is partnering with the Community College of Rhode Island to set up a digital economy aspirations lab for training students in the US for digital jobs, said the software major on Wednesday.

“Our digital innovation and design centre at Providence in Rhode Island will help bridge the gap for design and human-centric skills and provide digital technologies to our clients,” said the city-based IT firm in a statement here.

The centre offers designers and design graduates training in digital skills, exposure to systems, platforms, strategy and organisation domains to make them employable in a digital world.

The $11-billion IT behemoth has so far hired 100 techies as part of its goal to create 500 jobs in the northeastern state by 2022.

“We have hired 7,600 American workers since spring 2017 as part of our commitment to speed up digital innovation of enterprise clients in the US,” said the statement.

TDP chief and AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu has announced a ‘big bonanza’ for journalists in AP new capital Amaravathi in a bid to lure them before the crucial AP Assembly polls.

The AP cabinet chaired by CM Naidu which met in Amaravathi on Wednesday approved the allotment of 30 acres to journalists.

The 30-acre land price has been fixed at dead cheap price of just Rs 10 lakh per acre, while the same land in open market fetches more than Rs 5 crore per acre.

This would mean that journalists will get 30 acres for just Rs 3 crore against open market price of Rs 150 crore.

Naidu even gave a relaxation to journalists to pay Rs 3 crore in three installments.

Journalists housing society will be handed over 30 acres immediately if they pay Rs 1 crore. They can pay the remaining Rs 2 crore in the next two years.

Naidu is confident that all journalists will now cooperate with TDP during Assembly polls and give positive coverage to Naidu and TDP government and work for the victory of TDP.

Each journalist is expected to get 150 sq.yards to 175 sq.yards plot each. In Amaravathi, a square yard costs over Rs 20,000 at present.

Each journalist will own a property worth Rs 30 lakh to Rs 35 lakh. They have to pay just about Rs 2 lakh each to the government.

The house-warming ceremony of YSR Congress President Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy which was supposed to be held tomorrow, has been postponed, according to the party sources. YSR Congress political secretary, Y.V. Subba Reddy informed the media that the house-warming function has been postponed due to ill-health of Jagan’s sister Y.S. Sharmila and her husband, Anil.

Stating that the house-warming ceremony is postponed indefinitely, party sources said it might not take much time for Jagan to start operating from the new house. Jaganmohan Reddy is constructing a new house in a sprawling area at Tadepally in Guntur. The house-warming ceremony gained media attention after Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced that he will be visiting Jagan’s new house in Amaravati after attending a religious event in Vizag.

According to party sources, the house-warming ceremony may be a hush-hush affair as YSR Congress President is planning to finish it before the election notification is out by February end or in the first week of March. YSRCP leadership believes that Jagan moving to his new house will be an indication that he will work for the people of Andhra Pradesh and operate from the state, at a time when there is criticism that he lives in Hyderabad but wants to contest as CM of Andhra Pradesh.

Speculation is rife that Jagan may have put off the event as KCR’s equation with him may not bode well for the party before Assembly elections, as he has made anti-Andhra statements to provoke the people of Telangana during Telangana assembly elections.

Political observers say that Jagan-KTR meeting earlier did not do good to Jagan as his popularity went down soon after the meeting. While he had gained a significant positive image after Padayatra, YSRCP’s interest in tying up with TRS almost jeopardised Jagan’s chances in AP. With these signs in mind, the YSRCP leadership is trying to keep away from TRS at a time Andhra Pradesh is heading for elections.

Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan has forwarded his application for the allotment of an MLA ticket in the coming elections in Andhra Pradesh. Jana Sena Party Political Advisory Committee (PAC) is in charge for allocating tickets to candidates and in filter process, it will select the suitable contender.

With past experiences from Praja Rajyam Party, Pawan wanted a complete transparency in selecting the candidates and so Jana Sena Party appointed PAC which comprises of five members. Even the party chief has to send his application to the PAC for a scrutiny of his track record. This committee will not bow down to any sort of recommendation and money. As the party chief Pawan directed PAC members to opt for only hardworking and honest candidates.

Pawan’s is the first application PAC received from the Jana Sena Party and the rest would follow. With the election announcement expected shortly, Pawan is busy with appointing committees and in-charges of constituencies in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Jana Sean party will be contest 10 Parliament segments in Telangana and all seats in AP.

Former Visakhapatnam-one MLA Allu Bhanumathi joined Jana Sena in the presence of Pawan. She served as MLA in 1985 and is likely to get ticket as well

The suspense over the expansion of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s council of ministers has been continuing, as the latter has been dodging the same for over two months.

While the Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLAs, who are aspiring for berths in the KCR cabinet, are keeping their fingers crossed, it is the media which has been showing more curiosity than the MLAs on when KCR would expand the cabinet.

Every newspaper and every channel has been predicting different dates and KCR continues to keep them guessing.

Last week, a leading Telugu daily came up with a banner story stating that the Telangana CM would expand his cabinet on February 10, which happens to be an auspicious day because of Vasantha Panchami. The daily went on to predict who all would be there in the cabinet.

February 10 has come and gone, but there are no indications of any cabinet expansion.

Some TRS sources leaked to the media that KCR told party MLAs that he would take up cabinet expansion in another five or six days.

Already, three days have passed since the leaked report came out, but there is no such possibility as of now.

Now, the latest speculation doing rounds in the same media is that KCR would take up the cabinet expansion on February 16, a day before his birthday.

The media has chosen February 16 because the number has a curious significance: KCR has to fill up a maximum of 16 cabinet berths.

Secondly, his party is aiming at wining 16 MP seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections. And finally, he should also fill up 16 MLC seats, which have fallen vacant.

And since KCR has gone to his farmhouse, it is speculated that he is finalizing the list of cabinet ministers there. There is a belief that KCR will take all crucial decisions only at the farmhouse!

One wonders why the media has not speculated the date February 15, because one and five add up to six and KCR is fond of the number six!