Balakrishna Upsurge: Chandrababu Game Plan

In the game of survival at the top of the party hierarchy, there are few who are as crafty as Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu. The TD chief, after toppling his father-in-law from the helm, is now propping brother-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna to checkmate the temperamental Nandamuri Harikrishna and the young Jr NTR, thereby retaining his hold on the party affairs.

If TD circles are to be believed, Balakrishna's sudden upsurge in party affairs may have taken everyone by surprise but only senior leaders are able to see through the game plan. "We feel Balakrishna is being propped up to check Jr NTR, who is of late playing hide and seek with Mr Naidu. After the Studio N episode, in which Jr NTR shunted out Lokesh and took charge of the TV channel, the relationship has soured further," a senior TD leader told this correspondent.

 



He added, "Balakrishna is a safe bet for Mr Naidu and he can control him compared to Jr NTR. Balakrishna can never be a threat to Mr Naidu's legacy or a hindrance to Lokesh taking over the reins of the party in future. Besides, Mr Naidu can boast that a top member of the NTR clan is on his side, till he decides to hand over the mantle to his chosen one." Balakrishna created quite a 'hulchal' in Krishna district during the unveiling of NTR's statue and has been regularly attending to other TD programmes of late.

The bond between Mr Naidu and Balakrishna had strengthened after the TD chief's son Lokesh married Balakrishna's daughter Brahmani. The TD chief is also the brother-in-law of Balakrishna, having married his sister. Though some party leaders feel that Balakrishna should take over reins of party before the next polls since the party lost two elections under Mr Naidu and cannot risk losing the third in 2014, the TD chief is in no mood to give up. Other leaders however see nothing out of the ordinary. "Balakrishna is an active member of the TD. There is no need to be surprised about his statement," a senior leader said.

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.