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CLP Seeks Sacking of 4 MLAs

Finally the ruling Congress Party has taken the decision to seek disqualification of 4 of its MLAs for anti-party acitvities by associating with YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. On behalf of the party, the government chief whip Mr Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and the government whip Mr Kondru Muralimohan met the Deputy Speaker Mr Nadendla Manohar and handed a petition seeking the disqualification of four Congress MLAs, Ms Konda Surekha (Parkal), Mr Akepati Amarnath Reddy (Rajampet), Mr Gadikota Srikanth Reddy (Rajampet) and Mr C. Adinarayana Reddy (Jammalamadugu). The Deputy Speaker Mr. Nadendla Manohar said that he would consider the petition and decide on a course of action like serving notices to the members to clarify on the contents of the petition. He said that there was a set procedure for dealing with such cases of disqualification, which would be followed scrupulously without leaving room for criticism.

Latest on Baba Health Condition From Puttaparthi

Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba's health condition is getting alarming day by day. Baba's body not at all responding to the treatment. Still continuing on ventilator support. BP is too low and heart beat is unsteady. Baba is on dialysis. Health Secretary Mr. PV Ramesh said that a team of best doctors are monitoring the treatment. They will take decision about the treatment to be given to Baba.. Govt. will provide all the necessary help required by them. Security has been beefed up in Puttaparthi considerably in view of expected visit of VVIPs tomorrow. Devotees are continuously thronging to Puttaparthi from all parts of the country for Baba's darshan. Devotees are not believing in medical bulletins released from time to time about Baba's health. They say, Baba is surviving in spite of multi-organ failure from so many days, at the age of 86 years, and it's a miracle in itself. "We strongly believe that Baba will get well soon and live till his 96th year as he told earlier." On the other hand, going by the deteriorating health condition of Baba, the trust members are worried. They are not able to decide on whom to be entrusted with cheque powers. Whether it is Ratnakar or Satyajit, or both in shape of a joint account.    

Action Against Katasani, Shobha Under Anti Defection Law

Senior PRP leaders appealed to the Dy. Speaker Nadendla Manohar to initiate action against two MLAs Katasani Rami Reddy and Shobha Nagi Reddy for openly extending support to YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy. The PRP leaders, including Upendra, Harirama Jogaiah and Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao met Deputy Speaker Nadendla Manohar at his chambers and discussed about the possible action against Mr Rami Reddy and Ms Shobha Nagi Reddy under Anti Defection Law for indulging in anti-party activities. Earlier, the leaders convened a meeting with their party president K Chiranjeevi and discussed about taking action on these MLAs under the Anti-Defection Law. Now the onus lies on Mr. Chiranjeevi to take the decision whether to recommend to the Dy. Speaker to take action against these MLAs or not, since PRP-Congress merger is still in pending with the Election Commission.  

Delhi Police Says Bhushan CDs Not Tampered

A senior Delhi police official said the controversial CD containing purported conversation between eminent lawyer Shanti Bhushan and political leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh was referred to Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) for testing. CFSL gave the report saying the CD does not seem to have been tampered with and there is continuity in the conversation. "Recorded conversation is in continuity, no abrupt change in speech signal has been detected," says the report. Delhi Police had on Monday given the CD to the laboratory for forensic analysis after Bhushan provided them with a copy of it. Police had earlier registered a case under Section 469 (forgery intended to cause disreputation) against unknown persons on a complaint filed by Bhushan, who alleged that the CD was forged and intended to malign his reputation and derail the process of joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill. The CD and its transcript were shown to complainant Shanthi Bhushan, who is co-chairperson of the joint committee to draft the Lok Pal Bill, before it was given to the lab for testing.  

SCB Officials Nexus With Builders Exposed

Startling facts have been unearthed during the CBI raids on officials, builders and elected ward members of Secunderabads Contonement Board (SCB)indicating a clear nexus between them and the builders. There are nearly 1.50 lakh large and small buildings in the 40-square kilometre area of the Cantonment and 80 per cent of these are unauthorised. Enquiries revealed that of the 80 per cent unauthorised buildings, over 10,000 were constructed without SCB's permission and the rest violated building rules or deviated from the sanctioned building plans. In fact, buildings have also been constructed in the open spaces in the 260 colony layouts that were to be left for parks. A survey was conducted four years back in the Cantonment to identify the illegal buildings. The then chief executive officer, Mr Prem Chand, had got the survey conducted, which had put the unauthorised constructions figure at 80 per cent. The survey report, however, was conveniently filed away. Officials maintained that if they were to take up demolitions of the unauthorised structures, they would have to pull down over one lakh buildings, which was next to impossible. As per the Cantonment Act, only ground-plus two buildings are permitted to be constructed within Cantonment limits but the area is dotted with many four and five storey buildings. It has been alleged that the SCB officials are bribed by the owners and builders, following which the officials confine their action to only issuing notices. Except for demolishing a few buildings of owners who fail to pay up, other notices of demolitions remain only on paper. Sources said that there were a few "middlemen" working for a couple of elected ward members who went to sites of illegal buildings and squeezed money from the owner. After taking money from the builders, they would then approach SCB officials and take money from them threatening them that they would alert the CBI. The CBI armed with evidence, is likely to arrest Secunderabad Cantonment Board chief executive officer C Ravindra and five engineering officials soon. The CBI has registered criminal cases against Ravindra and five assistant engineers for allegedly conspiring with builders and allowing unauthorised constructions in the Cantonment area.

Successor to Sri Satya Sai Baba

After Sri Satya Sai Baba who will be his successor, is the question plaguing everyone now. This is the million dollar question doing the rounds about India's biggest godman who might well leave behind the biggest succession battle ever. As Sai Baba's fast deteriorating health spread anxiety and despair among his disciples and large number of devotees, serious questions abound about who would inherit the mega spiritual empire that Saibaba built over the last few decades. Trust members Indulal Shah and former chief justice P N Bhagawati are expected to arrive in Puttaparthi today to minutely scrutinize the accounts and fund management. "The two will pour over documents and key papers and assess the financial status of the trust and discuss what needs to be done to keep it running in the future," sources said. Indulal Shah is a renowned chartered accountant from Mumbai. Even as Baba battles for his life inside the ICU at the super speciality hospital at Prasanthi Gram village on the outskirts of Puttaparthi, the 'power games' to rule the Sai empire cannot be wished away. "Trust secretary K Chakravarthi's word is final as he is an authority on all the financial matters concerning the trust. It's no mean task to run the trust which has seva organisations world over," says an inmate of Prashanthi Nilayam. On the other hand, additional forces were rushed to Puttaparthi and checkposts in the town doubled even as the health condition of Satya Saibaba deteriorated further on Wednesday. The state government, which is now taking an active role in the matter, reviewed the situation with regard to Baba's health and the growing tension in and around Puttaparthi. However, Baba's nephew and trust member R J Ratnakar says the the trust has rules clearly laid down in the trust deeds. "The trust is recognised and registered under the Income Tax Act, Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act and other laws as applicable. All the institutions like schools, university, hospitals and other seva organisations are run by the respective trusts, under the umbrella of the Central Trust. There is or will be no vacuum in Prasanthi Nilayam. We firmly believe that Saibaba will continue to guide the trustees to carry out all the schemes."

Shanthi Bhushan Not Irreplaceable: Hegde

Commenting on the two 10,000 sq m farmhouse plots that Shanti Bhushan and his son Jayant Bhushan got from the Mayawati government, former Supreme Court judge and fellow member of the Lok Pal Bill drafting committee Santosh Hegde said that had such information come out in the public domain earlier, Bhushan would probably have not made it to the joint committee. Mr. Hegde said "Shanti Bhushan is not irreplaceable. If all this would have been known earlier, people who were advising Anna ji and he himself (Anna Hazare) probably would not have included them in the committee. There are many other eminent lawyers but the problem would not end there. My only and biggest apprehension is that if you remove Bhushans from the joint drafting committee, there would be more allegations. As we are at a point from where either we go forward or the committee is doomed. And if that would happen, for the next 40 years, either we won’t have a Lokpal or have a weak, sarkari bill," Hegde said.  

Satya Sai Baba Latest News

Hyderabad - 9 PM: Satya sai Baba's health condition as per the latest news available deteriorated further and has gone critical. Though the health bulletins didn't so far report about any eventuality, hectic activity is being witnessed in Puttaparthi right from this evening. Seva Dal members and additional police platoons are reaching Puttaparthi. It is not yet known what has prompted the Seva Dal and police personnel to reach Puttaparthi in a hurry.     The doctors in attendance said that Baba is suffering with jaundice and that has affected functioning of the liver. All the vital organs have slowed down in responding to the treatment as well as in their normal functioning. Doctors are a bit worried and are readying themselves to go for emergency surgery, if needed. Though it is not clear yet, how serious is Baba's condition, but going by the activities  at Puttaparthi, it seems, Baba's condition is really alarming.

KCR Selects GO 177 Plank to Revive T-stir

The TRS chief, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is planning to use the controversial GO 177, prohibiting strikes by government employees, to revive the Telangana agitation. The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) on Tuesday announced that it would intensify the agitation for a separate state from May, after all public exams are over, and also sought immediate withdrawal of GO 177. Sources told that KCR held a discussion with the Telangana Joint Action Committee convener, Professor M. Kodandaram, and chalked out an action plan to revive the movement. The decision of the TJAC to call off the non-cooperation movement abruptly because it said it did not want to disrupt ongoing examinations, created a rift between the workers’ unions and the TJAC convener.

Cong-TD Combine to Broker Navayuga Lands

Keeping aside the much talked about land policy, both the arch rivals Congress and TDP are ready to broker lands for Navayuga group. The state government is facing a lot of pressure from the developers of Machilipatnam port. The Navayuga group is insisting upon the government to allot 6000 acres for the construction of Machilipatnam port as envisaged earlier. Of the total area, the government owns 1,600 acres and has to acquire the rest from farmers. The proposal to allow the Krishna district administration to acquire land is awaiting the approval of the Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. The government's approval is mandatory for the district administration to initiate the process of issuing notification. Sources said the Chief Minister's Office held a review with the infrastructure and investment department officials on the Machilipatnam project, in particular land acquisition. Sources say that the developers are very keen at acquiring the lands much before the Kiran Kumar government comes out with new policy pertaining to land acquisition and the government too is responding positively in this regard. It is said the developer made it clear that the project would be kept on hold until the government hands over the entire 6,000 acres. Navayuga even said to have offered to advance the amount for land acquisition to the government and adjust the same in their future payments. Interestingly, the political rivals, Congress and Telugu Desam, both agree on allowing acquisition of 4,000 acres from farmers in the area. The TD, which has questioned the land allotments of the previous Congress government claiming that it snatched away farmers' lands for infra projects, is fully supporting the land acquisition for the port. The Machilipatnam Congress MLA and the TD MP assured the Chief Minister that they would take up the responsibility for smooth land acquisition. They even competed with each other to offer resignation if the government failed to initiate the acquisition process, it is said.  

Tenali Municipal Staff Show Their Might

During the review meeting in Tenali last week, Municipal Administration Minister Maheedhar Reddy made sarcastic comments against the municipal staff and blamed them for having turned the town known as 'Paris of Andhra' into a drainage canal. He stated that he would not spare anyone who would not work and try to bring a legislation to transfer the longstanding municipal staff in the civic bodies. He said that notransfer rule in the local bodies was making the staff lethargic and habitual offenders of the law. As if to give a fitting reply a week later, the municipal staff started bulldozing alleged illegal constructions of the ruling party leaders. Curiously, they began with demolishing a building owned by personal assistant of local legislator and deputy speaker Nadendla Manohar. They have also earmarked the buildings owned by former municipal chairperson Tadiboina Mastanamma and vice-chairman Janaki Ramachandra Rao. While Ramachandra Rao is said to be very close to Manohar, Mastanamma is also a Congress leader. In all, the municipal officials identified 48 buildings in the town, mostly owned by powerful politicians, as illegal structures and the drive against such structures seems to have been launched with a mission to teach a lesson to all. Municipal commissioner S Venkata Krishna is personally monitoring the bulldozing exercise. According to sources, the municipal commissioner had asked all his staff members to switch-off their mobiles till the operation was completed. There was mild tension when the municipal staff reached the building owned by Mastanamma to earmark for demolition. However, the municipal staff continued their job with the help of police and court orders.

Ministers Block CM Taking up Prajapadham

AP chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's received a setback with ministers blocking his proposal to take up Prajapadham this week. The ministers' contention was that they will have to face public wrath as none of the promises made during the Rachchabanda programme in January this year by the state government were kept. This is because the government coffers were empty. As a result, after deciding to put off his Prajapadham programme to a later date, Kiran Kumar Reddy directed the finance department to submit a detailed report as to how much money was required to fulfill the promises made during the Rachchbanda. During Rachchabanda, the state government received 32 lakh applications for new ration cards, 10.5 lakh applications for sanction of social security pensions and 14 lakh applications for allotment of pucca houses. Till date, not even one new ration card has been issued and according to sources, that will happen only after completion of the Aadhar exercise. With regard to pensions, till date, 444 pension applications have been cleared. As far as housing requests were concerned, not a single application seeking pucca houses has been cleared. According to sources the state needs about 5000 crores to clear all these applications. The ministers are said to have told the chief minister that holding a meet-the-people programme at this juncture would become highly embarrassing for the state government and even hinted that they were not prepared to accompany him in case he decided to go ahead with Prajapadham.

Frog Skin: Antidote For Many Diseases

Derivatives from slimy and moist frog skin are good antidotes for many diseases, say the studies conducted at the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, Kochi. Dr K. Santosh Kumar and Dr Sanil George, of the department of molecular medicine and cancer biology at the center, have extracted 30 peptides (chains of proteins) from frog skins which from which powerful antibiotic drugs can be made. Dr. George said "These are natural peptides and in the present world where the use of antibiotics affects human resistance, natural antibiotics will be in great demand since they don't affect the resistance of the body. This can change the whole world of antibiotics. The studies have been conducted in the Western Ghats, an area endemic to several species of frogs, and extracts taken from 63 per cent of them can be used to make antibiotic drugs. According to the scientists, the frog skin glands are literally a pharmacy of natural peptides. This naturally builds up a wall against any microbial infection. The secretions are extracted by giving a mild electrical stimulation to the frogs. "We have been looking at the various contents in these secretions which have a capacity to selectively kill micro-organisms, making clear why wounds in frogs get healed very quickly," said Dr George. "The studies conducted in the last two years are in the final stages and the patent work is in progress," he added. Combining these peptides with classic antibiotics can create new and safe drugs, the scientists asserted.  

Congress Lackluster Campaign in Kadapa Bypolls

In spite of a dozen ministers camping over there, the Congress party's bypoll campaign in Kadapa lacks luster. Congress is not even able to project anyone from the party as an acceptable leader to the Kadapa electorate nor it is in a position to criticize former CM YS Rajasekhar Reddy. The 12 congress ministers stay put in the district headquarters confined themselves to just press meets and door to door campaigning. They are avoiding holding of public meetings and roadshows for the fear that they may not yield the expected results. What the 12 camping ministers in Kadapa doing is nothing more than holding press conferences and party cadre meetings only to criticize Jagan Mohan Reddy. Though poll posters carry the photograph of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy along with YSR, hardly any leader speaks about the "good governance" and "able leadership" of Kiran Kumar Reddy. The people find the Congress unattractive was evident on the day its candidates DL Ravindra Reddy and YS Vivekananda Reddy filed their nominations. The crowd was hardly 500-strong while the people thronged by the thousands on the day Jagan filed his nomination papers two days ago. The observers feel that owing to cool response from the public, the candidates have so far avoided any public meeting or roadshows and confined themselves to door to door campaign. In contrast to the Congress campaign, Jagan has chosen a novel method. He is covering 6 to 10 villages a day. He has got supporters in every village. They go round the village doing door to door campaign a day before Jagan arrives in the village. The next day, Jagan addresses the people in a roadshow. "This type of campaign appears to be effective and missing on the part of the ruling party," say the observers.

Satya Sai Baba Kept Captive in Hospital

Is Satya Sai Baba kept captive in his own hospital? That's the question one encounters on visiting Sri Satya Sai Super Specialty Hospital at Puttaparthi. It is well known that Sai Baba is undergoing treatment from 28 March for multi-organ dysfunction and still his health condition continues to be critical, as per the news bulletins released from the hospital. Apart from conflicting reports about Baba's health condition, nowadays the media is flooded with intriguing reports about Satya Sai Central Trust's handling of the situation. This has made the state government more vigilant towards Baba's health as well as the wealth and prompted it to deploy over 100 Special Party Police personnel discreetly at the hospital. These policemen appear in white dress instead of Khaki uniforms and look like any other devotee/ volunteers. These personnel, keeping arms under cover, are said to have been trained to mix among the devotees and keep surveillance on Trust members, doctors and other visitors.  

KCR Threatens to Make Telangana a War Zone

TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao declared that his party would convert the region into "a war zone" as part of their "relentless struggle" for the statehood of Telangana from the third week of May. Addressing the media at Telangana Bhavan, KCR said that keeping in mind the future of students appearing for public exams, the T movement was suspended for a period of two months after the Million March on March 10. TRS and Telangana political JAC would revive the Telangana movement immediately after the exams and entrance tests for professional courses in the third week of May. The TRS supremo said "We have information that the Congress led UPA will make an official statement with regard to Telangana after the poll results in the five states are declared. If that does not happen, or if the decision of the Centre is against Telangana, then the TRS will resume the agitation and not stop till the separate state is achieved." KCR stated that the Telangana people had been actively participating in the movement and demanded that the UPA government carve out a separate state immediately by respecting the sentiments of four crore Telangana people, if it really believed in democratic rights as enshrined in the Constitution.  

Truth Labs Experts Confirm Bhushan CD as Manipulated

The retired CBI CFSL Lab forensic expert, Mr S.R. Singh, who is now with Truth Labs of Delhi, has completed the investigation with the aid of video authentication experts in Hyderabad. The city based Truth Labs experts have stated that the conversations in the Shanti Bhushan CD have been directly lifted from the Amar Singh tapes and has been digitally manipulated. The experts found that the makers of the CD, which allegedly contains conversation of Mr Shanti Bhushan regarding bribes for getting PIL, took direct conversations between Mr Amar Singh and Mr Mulayam Singh from the Amar Singh tapes and knitted them in the CD. For instance the sentence - "Ab unko kaun samjhaye... chahe griha mantri ho ya chahe koyi eira geira ho, inko kya samjhaye" has been lifted from tape 10 of the Amar Singh tapes. Truth Labs used multispeech software, Gold Wave to find that the CD was doctored. Truth Labs officials said that out of 46 sentences, 17 have been directly lifted from the Amar Singh tapes. "Regarding Mr Shanti Bhushan's voice, the background noise differed when Mr Amar Singh was speaking which showed that they were not at the same place and was fabricated," said Mr K.P.C. Gandhi, chairman of Truth Labs. Even the word "Char karore" allegedly used by Mr Shanti Bhushan, was with a high peak and used after a pause which showed that they had been linked.  

YSR Kin Approach High Court For Security

The former chief minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy's daughter Sharmila Reddy and her husband Anil Kumar approached the High Court against withdrawal of security by the state government. They termed it as an act of vengeance by the government towards their family and requested the court to pass orders for the restoration of security immediately. In their petition to the court, they contended that the 1+1 security hitherto provided to them has been withdrawn by the government without giving any notice on the 1st of this month. And that they have come to know about the withdrawal only through newspapers. Chief secretary (Home), DGP, Addl. DGP (Intelligence) along with Hyderabad City Police Commissioner have been named Respondents in the petition. Ms. Sharmila Reddy said in her petition that 1+1 security was provided to her family members in view of the security reasons when her father YS Rajasekhar Reddy became the chief minister in 2004 and was being continued till now. "After the sudden demise of my father, lot of political changes have taken place in the state. In this backdrop, my brother Jagan Mohan Reddy has resigned from the Congress Party and floated a new party. This has caused the government to nurture grudge against our family. With this, the security has been withdrawn abruptly without giving any notice from 1st of this month. Though a representation has been made to the government on 8th April, but the security hasn't been restored. It is unconstitutional to withdraw security by the government without giving prior notice and this is a clear act of vengeance against our family. Hence this petition, praying for issuance of orders to the government to restore 1+1 security to our family, as has been provided in the past," said Sharmila in her petition.

KCR Sticks to His Statement on Andhra Priests

TRS supremo KCR reaffirmed his earlier statement that priests from Andhra region show off, while their counterparts in the Telangana region adhere to their work only. He termed andhra priests as superficial and decorative and said that they were available for hire for any political party to render favorable predictions. "In contrast, the Telangana priests are committed to their work," KCR said. It was on the last day of the three-day Chandi Yagam on Saturday that the TRS chief had stated that "the Andhra priests give priority to alankaram whereas the Telangana priests are dedicated to their duties." According to KCR, during the previous yagam performed in 2009, the priests, all of whom belonged to the Andhra region, gave priority only to the decoration and also charged him a huge fee for conducting the yagam. That was why he decided to hire only Telangana priests this time around, he claimed. Taking a dig at some of the pundits who recited Panchangam (almanac) on Ugadi, he said it was unfortunate that some pundits have become politicized and have become paid Panchangakartas. "A pundit who has performed puja in the TD office on Ugadi says that Mr Naidu will become CM. There was a similar prediction in 2004, but he lost," Mr Rao said.