Almost three decades ago, as a young kid it was a moment etched in my memory to get a glimpse of the then Prime Minister of India – Rajiv Gandhi – standing on top of a building which was far away from the helipad prepared for the late Prime Minister’s chopper to land!

Years passed; Prime Ministers changed! While I adore leaders like P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the manner in which they led this great country; disliked leaders like V P Singh and Deve Gowda who I strongly feel had a negative impact on the future of India.

In 2004 when Rahul Gandhi became a Member of Parliament, likely many even I felt – here comes the future of India. This young, then 33-year-lad was being looked upon as the future Prime Minister who would put India on the path to greatness! After spending first term in learning, it was expected that Rahul Gandhi would take much aggressive stance in his approach. Elected to Parliament again in 2009, Rahul Gandhi showed great promise with his ‘Kalavati speech’ on the floor of Lok Sabha the same year. It was a great moment when Rahul Gandhi highlighted the plight of the widow and silenced the opposition who attempted a laugh.

After intense training from stalwarts of 150-year-old political outfit, Rahul Gandhi was expected to deliver miracles! But what followed was a huge disappointment! The scion of the grand old party of Indian politics failed miserably at each instance when he was expected to deliver.

Rahul Gandhi opted to stick to Party and not enter in order to strengthen the organization; he failed to stand up and take a Cabinet berth to show his ability to administer; biggest disaster came in when he opposed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s decision! Failure after failure has only hurt the image of Rahul Gandhi.

Maybe these was the reason for him not step forward and take the challenge thrown at him and Congress Party by Narendra Modi. Hiding behind the Congress Party policy of not naming Prime Minister candidate before the elections, Rahul Gandhi lost an opportunity to prove to the world that he is not running away from responsibility.

Now that Congress Party has suffered its worst poll debacle in the history of Indian elections, Rahul Gandhi still had his last chance to become Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and work towards rebuilding Congress Party from its nadir! Instead Rahul Gandhi behaved like a rich spoil brat and chose to travel abroad time and again.

One thing is evident from these; Rahul Gandhi is not a serious politician! It is good for Congress Party if they realize this sooner than later and not remain in denial mood.

Congress Party should soon come out of Gandhi-Nehru family tangle and give reins to the younger generation who will be able to take the party forward. We do not wish to see Congress Party die completely and would really want them to play the role of an able Opposition. Because in Democracy a strong opposition is as important as a stronger Government!

Quite shockingly even the political parties that have zero representation and that lacks any strength have been naming their alliance as ‘Grand Alliance’ in the Andhra Pradesh. This is now triggering political debate. All politically unemployed persons and parties together have forged an alliance and claiming it as ‘Grand’ Alliance.

Usually, any alliance that lacks principal and major Opposition party cannot be a grand alliance against a ruling government. This is simple and well-known. However, CPM, CPI, Janasena, Lok Satta, Aam Admi Party claimed to have formed a ‘Grand’ alliance. With too little hold, these parties have no significant presence. And none of the parties have no known faces other than Pawan and JP.

And one interesting fact one has to observe is all these parties that joined their forces against ruling TDP have equally distanced with from Opposition leader YS Jagan. This itself conveys to people that even all opposition parties are not in favour of Jagan. It in turn indicates that Chandrababu Naidu has no strong alternative. Many in political circuits and senior analysts are describing it as a ‘Bland’ Alliance!

Political strategist Prashant Kishore, who has been appointed to prepare strategy for the victory of YSR Congress party in 2019 election, will no longer in the service of YS Jagan.

Prashant joined Janata Dal ( United) party in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and announced starting his active political career in his home state.

Prashant was instrumental in the victory of Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and also Nitish Kumar in Bihar assembly elections. Jagan hired Prashant to strengthen YSR congress two years ago. On his instructions, the YSR Congress has taken up political campaign two years ahead of the elections. The Navaratnas announced by Jagan was also part of political strategy prepared by him.

Leaders said Jagan is finding the alternative to Prashanth to prepare strategy as the elections are fast approaching. Eom

In what can be a significant move, Andhra Pradesh CM “Chandrababu Naidu” is all set to visit the United States of America (USA) on 22nd September, 2018 where he is going to personally meet the CEO, COOs of the top American companies and the potential investors.

Earlier, the US Ambassador to India Kenneth had met Chandrababu Naidu on 21st August, 2018 at Secretariat. Kenneth said that the American companies are now looking towards Andhra Pradesh as one of best destination for investments.

The highlight of Naidu’s US visit is his speech at the UNO Conclave. Naidu is going to attend the UNO conclave where he is going to deliver a lecture on” Financing Sustainable Agriculture: Global Challenges and Opportunities ” in New York on September 24.

This is after the UNO requested Naidu to deliver a lecture at the UNO Conclave and talk about CM’s efforts in promoting sustainable Agriculture practices. The international organisation has extolled AP government for adopting zero budget natural farming technology aiming to convert 60 lakh farmers into organic farming by 2024.

During his visit to the US, Naidu is also going to interact with the NRIs who are keen to invest in the Sun Rise State of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu has entrusted the task of coordinating with the NRIs to Rajya Sabha MP CM Ramesh.

The political situation in Andhra Pradesh took an interesting turn with former chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao formally joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party president Amit Shah in Hyderabad on Saturday.Ever since IYR turned a bitter critic of Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu after his removal from the post of AP Brahmin Welfare Corporation, there has been talk about joining active politics.

The TDP leadership initially suspected that he might join the YSR Congress party, as he had strongly defended the postings of a social media activist supporting YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy against Naidu and Lokesh.He also alleged favoured several YSRC activists belonging to Brahmin community in distribution of scholarships, instead of the TDP workers, when he was the corporation chairman. His proximity with YSRC MLA Kona Raghupathi also confirmed the suspicion.

But subsequently, IYR started moving closely with the Sangh Parivar groups and making statements in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.He attacked the TDP for moving a no confidence motion against BJP led NDA government at the Centre.He also supported the BJP argument that the special package was much better than special category status, for which Naidu had already agreed.

Now with IYR formally joining the BJP, it is certain that he is going to play active role in the party and step up the attack on Naidu on behalf of the party.The BJP also might have seen a lot of benefits in admitting IYR, as he could provide a lot of inside information about the Naidu government since he was the chief secretary of the state for a long time.He would also be able to provide inputs on the acts of omission and commission in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, of which he was the executive officer for a long time.

It remains to be seen what role the BJP leadership would entrust IYR with in Andhra Pradesh in the coming days.

The TDP leaders are now alleging that IYR would act as a link between the BJP and the YSR Congress party, as he is nothing but a mole of the YSRC in the BJP!