IT minister Nara Lokesh, the only son of TDP president and AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu is not going to contest the upcoming Assembly polls as anticipated earlier.

Reliable sources in TDP revealed that his father Naidu is against Lokesh contesting direct elections like Assembly polls, as there is no ‘safe seat’ available for Lokesh in AP, which could ensure his win against strong Opposition YSRCP.

Naidu fears that if Lokesh loses Assembly polls, it would create adverse impact on TDP, even if TDP wins Assembly polls and forms government.

Naidu also fear that this will close the doors for Lokesh as his successor in the TDP and TDP government and may give scope for Nandamuri family heirs to throw their hat to regain hold on TDP.

Naidu nominated Lokesh as MLC in March 2017 and took him into his cabinet as IT minister.

Lokesh came into cabinet and Legislature through back door entry in a ‘safe route’ unlike KTR, who came into his father KCR’s cabinet in Telangana by winning successive Assembly elections with a good majority since 2008.

Naidu, who obtained party and intelligence reports from all Assembly constituencies found that there is not a single ‘safe constituency’ on which he can depend for ‘guaranteed victory’ for his son Lokesh except Kuppam.

But Kuppam seat is represented by Naidu himself, which he does not want to sacrifice for his son and face the risk himself by contesting from other seat with reports of ‘huge YSRCP wave’ sweeping across AP as per surveys done by prominent national media organisations recently.

TDP chief and AP N Chandrababu Naidu created a false hype on Tuesday by launching Kia car plant production in Anantapur though the company is yet to install even required machinery for the purpose with an aim to garner political mileage in upcoming Assembly.

But TDP leaders minted money out of Kia car plant, while hundreds of farmers who lost their lands for setting up plant have become toilet cleaners, sweepers in the same plant.

Like insider-trading in stock market, TDP ministers and leaders were very much aware in advance that the Kia car plant is going to come up near Penugonda.

Trying to exploit this situation into their advantage, TDP ministers Kalva Srinivasulu, Paritala Sunitha, chief whip Palle Raghunatha Reddy, TDP MLC Payyavula Keshav, TDP MLAs BK Parthasarathi, Varadapuram Suri purchased agriculture lands surrounding Kia car plant for dead cheap rates.

Poor farmers who were unaware of Kia car plant coming up there sold their lands to TDP leaders, who lured them saying that they would never get the price what they had offered.

Besides, 376 farmers lost their lands for Kia. The TDP government assured these farmers that 86 per cent of total 3,000 direct jobs in Kia plant would be offered to their families.

In reality, the Kia plant recruited not even 10 per cent locals and instead recruited staff from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat etc.

Locals were offered toilet cleaning, sweeper jobs and they were left with no choice but to accept these jobs for their livelihood.

TDP leaders on the other hand minted money as real estate business picked up due to Kia plant skyrocketed and land prices skyrocketed.

As the election fever in Andhra Pradesh heats up, there is a lot of speculation over the winning prospects of the TDP Ministers from Rayalaseema.

Paritala Sunitha, Kalava Srinivasulu and KE Krishnamurthy are originally from the TDP whereas Bhuma Akhila Priya, Amarnath Reddy and Adinarayana Reddy won on a YCP ticket but defected to the TDP and were rewarded with cabinet berths.

Kalava Srinivasulu won from Raidurga on a slender majority defeating Kapu Ramachandra Reddy of the YCP.

Srinivasulu initially did not want to contest rom there as he was not very confident about winning but the overconfidence of Kapu Ramachandra Reddy cost the latter dearly.

But now, Kalava’s chances seem to be bleak in the face of allegations of massive corruption, in-fighting and anti-incumbency.

Paritala Sunitha needs no introduction to the people of Andhra Pradesh. For long, the district has been the fiefdom of their family and they are the richest in the district too.

However, their majority has been decreasing steadily over the years and their opponent Thopudurthy Prakash Reddy is leaving no stone unturned to emerge victorious this time.

The alleged extortion activities of Paritala Sriram have not helped the image of the Party either. Gangula Bhanumathi, wife of Maddelacheruvu Suri has also thrown her weight behind Prakash Reddy.

But the biggest hurdle to Sunitha could be from the Jana Sena. If Jana Sena contests, it could take away a huge chunk of Kapu and BC votes from the TDP.

In Pattikonda, the YSRCP in-charge Narayana Reddy was murdered and the prime accused is the son of the Minister KE Krishnamurthy.

KE might step away from the scene and allow his son to contest this time. Nevertheless, YS Jagan has already declared Narayana Reddy’s wife as candidate a long time back and the ‘sympathy factor’ is expected to sway the constituency in her direction.

Bhuma Akhila Priya is facing serious opposition from within her own faction in Allagadda and has made a lot of enemies in a short span.

Whether it be due to her inexperience or some other factor, it has now become uncertain whether she would actually be given the ticket again from Allagadda or if she will continue in the TDP.

Her principal rival in the region is the powerful Gangula family which has joined the YSRCP and is raring to go.

Minister Amarnath Reddy who won from Palamaneru on YCP ticket and jumped ship is now reportedly keen on contesting from Pungunuru in Chittoor district.

However, Chandrababu has recently announced Amarnath Reddy’s relative as the in-charge of Pungunuru fuelling speculation that Amarnath will not get the ticket from that constituency. All said and done, it is not a positive sign if the MLA/minister wants to change his constituency.

Finally, Adi Narayana Reddy, another defector from Jammalamadugu. Adi Narayana is keen on retaining the ticket but Chandrababu has reportedly promised it to his arch-rival Ram Subba Reddy.

Rumour is that Chandrababu wants Adi Narayana to contest as MP from Kadapa and everyone knows what the result will be.

Should Adi Narayana get the ticket again, it could wean the Subba Reddy faction away from the TDP but according to sources, Adi Narayan might have to contest from somewhere else.

To sum it up, it is not going to be easy for any of the current Ministers to repeat their victories of 2014. However, they have the necessary financial and muscle power to buy and bulldoze their way to a win.

Unfortunately, they face rivals now who are capable of it in equal measure. And that explains the reason for the ‘black’ mood in the TDP camp.

The all-party meeting convened by Vundavalli Arun Kumar turned into a slanging match between the TDP and BJP.

The TDP was represented by Ministers Naka Anand Babu, Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and Planning Board Vice-Chairman Kutumba Rao.

While the Jana Sena was represented by Party founder Pawan Kalyan, the BJP sent IYR Krishna Rao and Ramakrishna came from the CPI. YSRCP and CPM did not attend.

The TDP delegates gave a power point presentation according to which they said the Centre still owes AP Rs 1.16 lakh crore.

Taking objection to this, IYR Krishna Rao said the Centre had been releasing funds regularly to the State but the TDP was fudging facts and portraying the Centre as a villain.

This counter by Krishna Rao soon resulted in a war of words and other delegates had to pacify both the Parties.

The objective of the meeting according to Vundavalli is to highlight the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation. But with all due respect to Vundavalli, what can he hope to attain?

And, in what capacity does he intend to take remedial action? YSRCP and TDP are like North and South poles. They will never see eye-to-eye on any matter.

The Jana Sena is still an infant finding its way in the world whereas the Congress and BJP have become untouchables in the State.

So, what does Vundavalli hope to achieve without taking sides? In all fairness, it was just an exercise in futility.

One of the reasons for bifurcation and subsequent humiliation of Andhra Pradesh was the lack of unity among the Andhras because of caste reasons.

As long as that exists as a priority above the welfare of the State, no meeting will serve any purpose.

Amaravati: Targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said he addressed him as ‘sir’ to satisfy his ego for the sake of the state.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief told an all-party meeting on the demand for special category status that he did everything possible in the hope that he will do justice to the state following its ‘unjust’ bifurcation.

“When I met then US President Bill Clinton, I addressed him as Mr. Clinton, not as ‘sir’. Modi is my junior in politics. But when he came (to power), I addressed him as sir 10 times. I did this for the sake of the state and to satisfy his ego in the hope that he will do justice to the state,” Naidu said.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister said even the poll alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 was for the sake of the state. “We would have got 10 seats more without the alliance with BJP.”

Naidu, whose party pulled out of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre for its refusal to accord special status last year, said he took the step after reaching to a conclusion that Modi will not do justice.

Recalling that he was the first to demand resignation of Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in the wake of the riots in that state, Naidu said this could be a reason for Modi’s bias against Andhra Pradesh.

He alleged Modi government was targeting all the political rivals with cases by CBI, ED and other agencies. He claimed that a case against Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was withdrawn after he ‘compromised’ with Modi.

YSR Congress, Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jana Sena and the Left parties did not attend the all-party meeting called by Naidu to mount pressure on the Centre for according special category status to the state.

Naidu assured the meeting that the government would withdraw the cases booked against those fighting for special status. A decision in this regard would be taken at the cabinet meeting to be held on Thursday.

Leaders of Pratyeka Hoda Sadana Samithi, which is fighting for special category status, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), other smaller parties and employees’ groups attended the meeting.

This was the third all-party meeting called by Naidu and like in the past, major opposition parties stayed away alleging he is not sincere in achieving the goal.

Has Telugu Desam Party led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu planted its moles in the YSR Congress party camp?

This is said to be the suspicion in the YSRC leadership. The reason for this suspicion is that even a small issue being discussed in the party internally, whether it is with regard to any populist scheme to be announced by the party or a strategy programme to attack the state government is being leaked to the TDP these days.

For instance, YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was planning to organise a BC Garjana meeting sometime in February first week and it was internally discussed in the party long ago.

However, even before Jagan worked out a strategy, the information reached the TDP president, who lost no time in organising Jayaho BC public meeting at Rajahmundry a three days ago.

Several such plans discussed by Jagan within the closed doors are being leaked to the TDP, party sources said.

Though the YSRC president did not pay much attention to it initially, he realised that there could be definitely some TDP coverts in the party who are leaking the party strategies to Naidu. He is now said to be in the process of identifying the same.

The sooner he takes action against them the better, say party leaders.

The department of Homeland Security set up a fake university in Michigan to crack down on illicit operations allowing foreign citizens to stay in the U.S. illegally, according to federal indictments unsealed Wednesday.

Starting in 2015, the fake university was part of an undercover operation to identify recruiters and others engaging in immigration fraud, the indictments say, according to The Detroit News.

The University of Farmington had no staff, no instructors, no curriculum and no classes but was utilized by undercover Homeland Security agents to identify people involved in immigration fraud, according to federal grand jury indictments unsealed Wednesday.

Eight student recruiters were charged with participating in a conspiracy to help at least 600 foreign citizens stay in the U.S. illegally, according to the indictments, which describe a novel investigation that dates to 2015 but intensified one month into President Donald Trump’s tenure as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration.

Most of the recruiters and students involved are originally from Telugu States, India, according to prosecutors.

Bharath Kakireddy, 29, of Lake Mary, Florida.
Aswanth Nune, 26, of Atlanta.
Suresh Reddy Kandala, 31, of Culpeper, Virginia.
Phanideep Karnati, 35, of Louisville, Kentucky.
Prem Kumar Rampeesa, 26, of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Santosh Reddy Sama, 28, of Fremont, California.
Avinash Thakkallapally, 28, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Naveen Prathipati, 29, of Dallas.

The eight defendants have all been arrested.

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre and K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana are adopting strange strategies in presenting the annual budgets for the Centre and the state respectively.

According to Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin, the people across the country and Telangana State were witnessing a strange situation.

The NDA government at the Centre has only three months left for its tenure. But it wants to present a full-fledged budget which is not only unconstitutional, but also against all norms, rules and established Parliamentary practices.

On the other side, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government, which got a mandate for next five years, wants to come up with a Vote-on-Account or interim budget.

“Both BJP and TRS does not want to follow the Constitution,” he said.

Nizamuddin said that there was no valid reason for the TRS government to defer the presentation of full-fledged budget and go for an vote on account budget for three months.

“KCR has claimed that the State Government wants to come up with a vote-on-account due to lack of clarity on Centre’s financial contribution to State’s schemes or devolution of funds.

“The State government should take an average of Central funds it got during the last five financial years and include them as estimate for 2019-20. This can be revised later.

“Therefore, the State Government should present the budget based on its own estimated revenues and proposed expenditures,” he said.