Union Urban Development minister M Venkaiah Naidu has reportedly shouted at the delegation of Andhra Pradesh Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samiti. A delegation led by Chalasani Srinivas, CPI state secretary Ramakrishna called on Naidu on Thursday. They are in New Delhi in connection with their proposal to organize a protest near Jantar Mantar on December 7 to exert pressure on the centre for getting special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Recalling incidents of his effigy burning and hitting the effigy with chappals, Naidu is said to have disapproved of the activities of Sadhana Samiti. He said he had been fighting to get the Special Status accorded for the state from day one. He is said to have warned them that such acts would harm the interests of the people of the state.
T-MPs demand AP Express halt at Mahabubabad
Telangana MPs and state ministers urged the railway department to make Mahabubabad in Warangal district a halt for Andhra Pradesh Express. Deputy chief ministers Mahmood Ali, Kadiyam Srihari, ministers Etela Rajender and Pocharam Srinivas Reddy accompanied by TRS MPs called on AK Mittal, Chairman Railway Board to discuss many pending issues pertaining to the state of Telangnana. Mahabubabad MP Prof Sitaram was also part of the delegation. They delegation urged the Railway Board Chairman to stop the New Delhi-Vizag Andhra Pradesh Express at Mahabububad for the benefit of Telangana people. They said Mahabubad was an important town in the state with has considerable traffic. Similarly, they also urged Mittal to revive the passenger train between Illendu and Dornkal, which was discontinued. They also requested for the extension Manuguru passenger train up to Secunderabad. The Railway Board chairman assured the delegation that he would certainly initiate steps to do all that fall within his ambit.
Centre ignoring Telangana
Telangana ministers and TRS MPs slammed central government attitude towards the new state of Telangna. The Centre was acting like a mother who doesn’t feed her child nor does she allow her to beg, was the remark made by state finance minister Etela Rajender after their meetings with many central ministers on Thursday. He lamented that the state’s plea to hike ceiling on the borrowings of the state had not been given a thought by the centre. ” The union is not removing the cap imposed on the state borrowings in the name of discipline. Nor is ready to extend assistance from its coffers,” he said. Similarly the centre was not influencing the CCI to purchase the cotton from Telangana farmers. What more evidence one needs to show that centre was giving short shrift to Telangana. Similarly, Etela was critical of union social justice minister Tawarchand Gehlot, who said categorization of SC was not possible. ” Union Social Justice minister had no knowledge about the categorization of SCs,” he commented.
New Telangana Districts by March
In all probability, new districts in the state of Telangana will be a reality by March 2016. The officials are studying the Andhra Pradesh Districts(Formation ) Act-1974, and Andhra Pradesh District (Formation)Act-1984 Rules. To this effect Revenue department which is formulating the criteria for the creation of new districts in the state has issued a GO. Telangana government has approved the proposal to form new district in the September 2014 itself. Later, a committee has been set up under the chairmanship of chief secretary of the state. Government has also received many proposals from the public and peoples representatives. According to sources, the notification of the new district is likely to be issued in the mid March, and objections will be called for till the end of March.
Naidu’s IT project hit a roadblock
The ambitious plan of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu to make new Andhra Pradesh a major IT destination seems to have hit a roadblock. There has been no enthusiasm from the Indian and foreign investors to invest in the IT sector of Andhra Pradesh. The reason for the lukewarm response, according to sources in the IT department, is lack of expected cooperation from the union government. What is more disheartening is that there are no takers for the construction of IT Signature Tower proposed for Visakhapatnam. The APIIC has been entrusted with the responsibility of constructing the IT Signature tower. Tenders had been called for. But, the sources said, no company was coming forward to take up the work. This is said to be the fall out of centre’s poor response for chief minister Naidu’s proposal to lay Fiber Grid in the state. Even though union IT minister Ravishankar Prasad assured that the centre would sanction an IT Investment corridor to the state , there had been no action on the ground.
Raja Singh may join Siva Sena
BJP Goshamahal MLA Raja Singh may join Siva Sena. The MLA, who catapulted into’fame’ by raising his voice against Beef Festival of Osmania University students , has openly expressed his opposition to work under the leadership state BJP president G Kishan Reddy. He said Reddy was encouraging his opponents to join the party and start working against him in the constituency. First he was thinking of joining the ruling TRS. A staunch, Hindu rightist , he is said to have dropped the idea because of TRS’ links with MIM. Incidentally, he is also of Maratha ancestry. The area which he is representing has considerable Maratha population. By joining SS he may also be leading the party in the state as the lone MLA.
High Court notice seeks report on elimination of voters
Hyderabad High Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to file its affidavit on the alleged elimination of 6.3 lakh names from voter list of GHMC area. The Bench of Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy instructed the EC to file its affidavit by December 10. This is in response to the petitions filed by Congress BC Cell Chairman M Nagesh and TDP Secretary Feroz Khan. The case has been posted on December 15. Interestingly, the counsel of EC said the EC had not instructed the CEO Telangana to conduct a door-to-door survey to for the purpose of elimination of voters. The issue has become so controversial that the EC had to deputy a high level delegation to look into the matter last month.
