Vivekananda Reddy Choses Pulivendula Constituency

After much dilly-dallying, Agriculture Minister Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy has finally decided to contest the byelections from Pulivendula Assembly constituency.

According to sources, Mr. Vivekananda Reddy expressed his willingness to enter fray against his sister-in-law Y. S. Vijayamma from this segment.

It is understood that he conveyed his decision to APCC president D. Srinivas at a meeting, the latter had convened with the Congress leaders from Kadapa district on Thursday. Byelections to Kadapa parliamentary constituency and Pulivendula segment are scheduled on May 8. Former MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy is the candidate from YSR Congress Party from Kadapa.

Initially, Congress leaders were not keen on fielding a candidate against Ms. Vijayamma, widow of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. However, they changed their opinion at a meeting with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday morning. At the meeting attended by Ministers D. L. Ravindra Reddy, Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy, and Md. Ahmedullah the party felt it should field candidates in the two constituencies.

The party is likely to consider the names of Dr. Ravindra Reddy, N. Varadarajulu Reddy, N. Tulasi Reddy, and former MLA Ramesh Reddy and even invite former TDP leader Kandula Rajamohan Reddy for Kadapa parliamentary constituency. Sources said the Congress leaders pointed out that there was no need to give any concession as Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy had severed ties with the ruling party.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, who cut short the ‘Odarpu Yatra' in Vizianagaram and returned to the city, was busy holding meetings with his supporters. The Jagan group sharpened its attack on the Congress with rebel Congress MLAs – C. Adinarayana Reddy, G. Srikanth Reddy, A. Amaranatha Reddy, and B. Gurunatha Reddy -- ridiculing the APCC chief's move to constitute a committee to probe Council poll debacle.

They dared the leadership to initiate disciplinary action against them.

The Congress leaders hit back at the rebels seeking disciplinary action against them. “I will not be part of the election campaign if the five rebel Congress MLAs are not suspended from the party,” Kamalapuram MLA G. Veerashiva Reddy said at a press conference.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.