Union Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj has always been rhetoric and very responsive to all the queries and concerns of people through her Twitter account. Be it in making tough decisions or lending a helping to those in need, she had always delivered in a convincing way.

As soon as a user on Twitter wrote to the external affairs minister that global e-commerce giant Amazon is selling Indian flag doormats in Canada, she was quick to respond furiously on this issue. Having learnt about this through a photo tweet, Sushma immediately directed the Indian ‘High Commission in Canada’ saying, “This is unacceptable. Please take this up with Amazon at the highest level.”

Angered Sushma also tweeted, “Amazon must render unconditional apology. They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately. If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant India Visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the Visas issued earlier.”

Not just the Indian minister, the infuriated Twitterati also took a swipe against Amazon and demanded an apology. It remains to be seen how globally popular Amazon will respond to Sushma Swaraj’s tweet.

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is known for belligerent views when it comes to problems faced by the muslims. He may not have solved the problems of the muslims in reality but he and his party poses as if they are the saviours of muslims.

Owaisi brothers remain close to the parties in power and enjoy the fruits of power weilding iron like grip in old city. Of late MIM is aggressively attacking the ruling TRS party and CM KCR after KCR decided to support PM Modi on demonetisation.

Owaisi this time chose to question KCR government’s secret. Firing on all cylinders he questioned why Telangana government failed to table the Bhaskara Rao Commission report on Mecca Masjid firing in legislative assembly .

Taking on KCR government on twitter he posted “The Telangana govt should place report on 17 when Assembly meets why is it being kept in wraps as some sort of “State Secret“ .

Speaking to scribes he said “Though the TRS government was not in power then, the facts have to come out.The purpose of the commission of inquiry would fail if people are not told of its conclusions, whatever they may be. Action taken reports should be there. The people have a right to know.“

Owaisi’s counsel, SR.Mahajir, renowned lawyer said “The police version was false. And people must be held accountable.“

People are left wondering whether the news of AP CM Chandra Babu Naidu’s twitter account getting hacked is a mere political stunt. It is known that reports came out that AP cyber crime investigating wing started investigations after getting an alert from CMOs office about the twitter account of Chandra Babu getting hacked.

Couple of days back tweets praising Natasimha Balakrishna’s Gautami Putra Satakarni came out from Chandra Babu’s twitter account. This shocked everyone as already huge controversy erupted with AP cops denying permission to Mega Star Chiranjeevi’s 150 film Khaidi No 150 pre release function at Vijayawada.

Looks as if we are back in the age of Chanakya! Sources informed us that there is credible information to prove that at least 15 journalists in Sakshi owned by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy are working indirectly for Chandrababu Naidu.

In other words, they are now coverts of Naidu. Their job is to tone down any adverse reports against the government, inform Naidu beforehand of any negative news unearthed against him or the TDP so that they are prepared in advance and do everything possible within their means to protect the interests of the TDP!

Now the issue has been brought directly to the notice of YS Jagan and we can definitely expect a few heads to roll!

When YS Jagan asked people to vent their anger on Chandrababu Naidu with slippers, he was thoroughly rebuked by the ruling party leaders and political analysts for having used unparliamentary language.

But today, TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy is using vulgar language against YS Jagan in the presence of the Chief Minister himself.

Instead of making an effort to curtail him, the Chief Minister is merely smiling and thereby prodding Diwakar Reddy on. This has happened twice now. How can the TDP lament over the language used by YS Jagan and then encourage something similar in a more extreme form?

Where will this lead to? And the sad part is that Diwakar Reddy would probably keep on at it until his brother is given a cabinet post or something. And the TDP will not give him one because they might fear that JC would stop his criticism after the post is given.

The demonetised 500 and 1000 rupee notes have become defunct in the country almost two weeks ago, but they continue to flood the Hundi of Lord Venkateshwara temple on Tirumala hills.

According to temple authorities, banned notes worth about Rs 1.7 crore have been deposited in the last 11 days.

The highest amount of demonetised notes found in the hundi was Rs 44 lakh on December 31 last year, the next day of the 50-day deadline to deposit the junked currency in banks or post offices. On New Year’s day also the hundi had netted about Rs 31 lakh of defunct notes.

It was expected that the flow of the demonetised cash into the hundi would further come down in the coming days, a temple official said.

He however declined to comment on the fate of defunct currency notes in kitty of Lord Venkateswara, post 50-day demonetisation period that had ended on December 30.

Daily on an average, the hundi at the shrine has been netting about Rs 2.8 crore in the form of cash besides gold and other precious offerings, he said.

The annual cash offerings of the hundi in the just ended calendar year have even crossed Rs 1000 crore, he said.

As expected, the Nellore police gave a clean chit to former minister and Telugu Desam Party MLC Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy in the illegal properties case as revealed in the documents released by YSR Congress party MLA Kakani Goverdhan Reddy.

Nellore Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni disclosed to the media that the documents produced by Goverdhan Reddy turned out to be forged, as pointed out by Somireddy in his complaint. The police boss said three special teams constituted to probe the case had finally cracked the case within 10 days and arrested three persons behind this fabricated documents.

According to him, the documents were forged y a person G Hari Haran, alias Mani Mohan from Chittoor, who had earlier worked in Singapore and Malaysia as steward at casinos for some time. During this period he had closely observed rich people and politicians. Identifying rival groups, he tried approaching one group promising them to provide fabricated documents for money, showing `illegal’ properties for their rivals in foreign countries. Another person Venkata Kisrishnan had helped him in preparing fake seals and Hari Haran by typing fake names on those documents.

The SP also said Mani Mohan was in constant touch with the YSRC MLA. Since the issue was in the court, the cops have not questioned the MLA so far. He indicated that they would take action against MLA as per court proceedings.

It was pretty evident that the case against Somireddy would be dismissed ever since the probe was handed over to Nellore police. After all, nobody would expect action against a ruling party MLC!

Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the post of Attorney General has assured lawmakers of taking steps towards pushing legislative measures to curb misuse of H-1B and L1 work visas, significantly used by Indian IT professionals.

“It’s simply wrong to think that we’re in a totally open world and that any American with a job can be replaced if somebody in the world is willing to take a job for less pay,” Senator Jeff Sessions told members of Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing for the position of US Attorney General.

“We have borders. We have a commitment to our citizens and you have been a champion of that. I’ve been honoured to work with you on it,” Mr Sessions said in response to a question from Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the past, both Mr Sessions and Mr Grassley have worked together to bring legislations on H-1B visas that badly hit Indian IT companies.

The Office of Special Counsel for immigration related unfair employment practices is an office within the Justice Department which would be headed by Sessions if he is confirmed by the US Senate.

The Office enforces the anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“While the office is designed to protect foreign nationals with employment visas from discrimination, it is also charged with ensuring that American workers are not discriminated against in the workplace.”

“Many US workers advocate that the layoff of American workers and the replacement by cheaper, foreign, H-1B workers constitutes de facto nationality-based discrimination against American workers,” Mr Grassley said.

“The Obama administration has failed to protect American workers here. Will you, this is my question, will you be more aggressive in investigating the abuses of these visa programmes?” he asked.

“I believe this has been an abuse. And I have been pleased to support your legislation and some others too, that others have produced that I believe could be helpful. It needs to be addressed,” Mr Sessions said.

Describing Mr Sessions as a vocal champion for American workers, Mr Grassley said many American workers are being laid off and replaced by cheaper foreign labour imported through some of the US visa programmes.

Mr Sessions, Mr Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin in the past had co-sponsored a bill that would reform H-1B visa programmes by ensuring that qualified American workers are considered for high skilled job opportunities before those jobs can be offered to foreign nationals.

“It also prohibit a company from hiring H-1B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50 per cent of their employees are H-1B or L-1 visa holders,” he said.

This provision would crack down on outsourcing companies that import large number of H-1B and L1 workers for short training periods and then send these workers back to their home countries to do the work of US workers, he added.

“In 2013, you and I seem to be the lone senators on this committee who fought for US workers. We argued that the Gang of Eight bill that would have increased the number of foreign workers who came in on H-1B visas and actually hurt Americans who were qualified, willing to do those jobs, we said that the bill failed to adequately protect US workers and neglected to hold employers accountable for misusing the H-1B and L1 visa programs,” Mr Grassley said.

“We tried to provide more protection for US workers. We tried to ensure that no business imported foreign workers before making a good faith effort to hire people at home. We tried to expand the ability for government to audit employers, we offered amendments that were supported by the AFL-CIO,” he said.

“In April 2015, you helped lead eight other senators in a letter to then Attorney General Holder, Secretary of Homeland Security Johnson, and Secretary of Labor Perez on this issue. Some of those who signed that letter sit on this panel today. For instance, Senator Durbin and Blumenthal,” he said.

That letter requested that the Obama administration investigate abuse of H-1B visa programmes by companies including Southern California Edison, Disney and IBM that have been laying off American workers and replacing them with H-1B workers in some cases reportedly making the American workers train their own replacements, Mr Grassley added.