The massive rally with nearly a million people held at Kolkata by Trinamul Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee seems to have made Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister jubilant.

So much so that Naidu, while addressing the rally, announced that he would also soon organize a similar public meeting at Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, amidst loud cheers from the crowds.

He asked all the leaders on the dais to come to Amaravati to attend the rally and declare to the entire nation the opposition unity to dethrone the Narendra Modi government.

Picking up the mike, Mamata immediately endorsed Naidu’s plan and declared: “We shall go to Amaravati shortly.”

And this has enthused Delhi chief minister and Aam Admi Party president Arvind Kejriwal. He, too, came up with an announcement that he would also organize a similar rally in New Delhi and Mamata supported his call also.

Stating that the Kolkata rally was the beginning of the downfall of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Naidu sought to send a message that the opposition parties should not differ with one another on the prime ministerial candidate. He said national interest should take precedence over individuals.

He said the only agenda of the opposition parties should be bringing a unity in the country, which was divided on religious and community lines by the BJP.

“The present Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a performing PM, but a publicity PM,” he said.

F2 – Fun and Frustration has been enjoying the perks of a festive release while the remaining festival films fail to click.

F2 has exceeded expectations by crossing Rs. 40 crore mark in its first week and is set to enter the Rs. 50 crore club by this weekend.

F2 had the least pre release buzz among Sankranthi movies, but it turned out to be the sole winner of the season.

F2 is currently running in more screens than it did in its first week. It will have another great weekend with literally no new films to compete with.

Vinaya Vidheya Rama is inching towards Rs. 60 crore mark, but it is not enough as it was sold for ultra high prices. The going gets tough after the weekend and the buyers are staring at big losses.

NTR turned out to be a big disaster in spite of decent content. The film’s box office performance has been shocking since day 1 and it was all downhill after that.

Petta didn’t have enough screens to make an impact at Telugu box office.

Hyderabad: The Telangana government’s Rythu Bandhu Scheme to provide investment support to every farmer has become part of national agenda of action, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan said on Saturday.

Addressing the joint session of both Houses of the state legislature, he said the scheme has become a role model for several states and has earned praise even in the international arena.

“It is a matter of pride that UN Food and Agriculture Organisation praised this scheme. Several states are preparing to adopt it,” he said.

He claimed that the scheme has done away with the problem of agriculture investment faced by farmers.

“Farmers are happy as they are getting Rs 8,000 per acre annually, at the rate of Rs 4,000 per acre per crop,” said Narasimhan.

He said the scheme was one of the several steps initiated by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government to revive, restore and revitalise the agriculture sector.

With 24 hours round-the-clock quality power supply, farmers are no longer confronted with power problems. Due to government’s strategic actions, fertilisers, pesticides and seed are reaching the farmer in time, he claimed.

The government also introduced a novel Life Insurance Scheme for farmers termed “Rythu Bhima” to come to the rescue of the farmer’s family in the event of his death, notwithstanding circumstances. Under this scheme, the farmer’s family would get Rs five lakh within 10 days of the death.

Listing the schemes introduced and implemented for the welfare and development of people during the last four years, he said they brought about a better standard of living.

Narasimhan said Telangana has been progressing in every arena and positions itself as a leading state in the country, due to the effective governance under the leadership of K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

“This was reflected clearly in the electorate again reposing confidence overwhelmingly and returning the existing government to power with an emphatic majority in the recently concluded elections.”

The Governor said the government would continue to press and fight for implementation of 33 per cent reservation to backward classes and 33 per cent to women in legislatures.

Recalling that the Telangana Assembly has already passed a resolution for provision of 10 per cent reservation to scheduled tribes and 12 per cent to minorities, he said to implement these reservations the government will continue to raise the demand with the Central government.

Narasimhan pointed out that the people of Telangana achieved a separate state for themselves in 2014 after six decades of relentless struggle. The government straightaway took up the process of reconstruction, according top priority to welfare of the poor.

He told the legislators that Telangana achieved one of the highest growth rates in the country. During the first four years from 2014-2018, the state achieved 17.17 per cent compound annual revenue growth rate and during the current 2018-19 financial year, the growth rate so far stands at 29.93 per cent.

Even in Goods and Service Tax collections Telangana stands first among all the states in the country.

KOLKATA: In one of his sharpest attacks at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said “the prime minister is a publicity PM, but what we want is a performing prime minister.”

Speaking at the mega opposition rally in Kolkata organised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Mr Naidu said the BJP-led government has betrayed the nation.

“Five years ago, people gave the mandate for the BJP. They betrayed the nation. They gave slogans. Jan Dhan, mudra loan, good governance, smart cities, bringing back black money, two crore jobs, acche din. These are all slogans,” he said.

Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which had been demanding a special category status for Andhra Pradesh from the centre, walked out of the ruling alliance led by the BJP in March last year. Despite numerous meetings with the central leadership, the TDP chief was unsuccessful in getting the recognition for his state.

He started his 13-minute speech by acknowledging the contributions of freedom fighters from Bengal.

“We have only one ambition. Save India, save democracy. The BJP wants to divide India, we want to unite India. That’s why all the leaders are here today,” Mr Naidu said. He went on to criticise the Modi government over the Rafale jet controversy and the notes ban, which he said hit farmers and small traders hard. “Even GST is a fraud. Today you are seeing economic growth is stagnant.”

Amid allegations that the BJP was trying to destabilise the coalition government in Karnataka, where legislators have been shepherded into resorts to prevent horse-trading, Mr Naidu said the Modi government was trying to interfere in the federal setup.

“They are harassing states. If you see Kashmir, how they behaved there… Even in Karnataka, it is an elected government but they want to manipulate and destabilise the Karnataka government. They are going to pay a heavy price,” Mr Naidu said. “(Chief Minister) HD Kumaraswamy has rightly mentioned just now they (BJP) are offering huge money to MLAs; they want to purchase them just like animals.”

The TDP considers the demand for special status an emotional issue for the people of Andhra Pradesh. Just before it pulled out of the central coalition, it claimed that the BJP had supported special category status when it was in opposition, but failed to fulfil its promise.

Congress is traditionally known as the party of Reddys in Telugu states. The Reddy dominance is even more in Congress in Telangana compared to Andhra. Reddys dominated Congress party as Chief Ministers, CLP leaders and Leaders of Oppositions even in Undivided AP.

Though Congress lost to TRS in Telangana in 2014, Reddys continue their stronghold on the party.K Jana Reddy was made CLP leader and Leader of Opposition while N Uttam Kumar Reddy was made TPCC chief.In recent TS Assembly polls, Jana Reddy lost election while Uttam Kumar Reddy won.

Reddy leaders vied with each other to bag CLP post in Telangana Legislative Assembly. Uttam made all the efforts till the last minute to secure CLP post by lobbying in Delhi and even offered to relinquish his TPCC president post for CLP. But his efforts did not materialise.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Jagga Reddy were in the race with the hope of Congress high command continuing the tradition of appointing a Reddy for CLP post.However, AICC president Rahul Gandhi appointed Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, a dalit, as CLP leader.Bhatti is the only second dalit to become CLP leader in the history of Congress in Telugu States. In Undivided AP, Damodaram Sanjeeviah, a dalit was made CLP leader and CM in the 1960s.

Now, Bhatti achieved this feat after a gap of six decades.

Naturally,Telangana Reddy leaders are upset at Congress high command for denying Reddys their traditional post of CLP in Telangana.They are still trying to bring pressure of Congress high command to change CLP leader at least after Lok Sabha polls and make Reddy, a CLP leader again.

It remains to be seen how Reddy leaders will cooperate with Bhatti in the Assembly.