Andhra Pradesh Discussions

[Prodigist]

What do you guys think about this?

[Prodigist]

Understanding Jagan: A story of dynasty and megabucks

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/13570843.cms

HYDERABAD: There is an anecdote well known in Andhra Pradesh's political circles. In the run-up to the 2004 general election, Jaganmohan Reddy, then a callow youth, laid claim to the Congress Lok Sabha ticket from Kadapa. His demand was not met. The ticket went to his father's younger brother, Vivekananda Reddy. The uncle won the seat, but Jagan tried to put "pressure" on him to resign. In the end, Vivekananda could save his seat only by running to Sonia Gandhi. Jagan, angered that he had not been obliged, took himself off to Bangalore, saying he would have nothing to do with Andhra Pradesh and its politics. He turned up only in 2008, a few months before the 2009 general election.

With the benefit of hindsight, the move to Bangalore seems to have been a ploy. CBI's investigations show that it was precisely during 2004-08 that Jagan emerged a larger-than-life operator. According to the investigating agency, the modus operandi of Jagan - fully backed by his now deceased father, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy - was simple: allocate huge tracts of valuable land (taking advantage of the liberal policies of the government of India, which was promoting SEZs as a panacea for rapid industrial growth) to companies of all sizes and pedigrees, and in return get them to invest in his ventures. The quid pro quo was not direct; sometimes it was through numerous channels. For instance, CBI has discovered that Ramalinga Raju of Satyam scam fame had invested in a company called Vanpic whose promoter channelized the money to Jagan's ventures. Raju parted with hard cash because his infrastructure company, Maytas Infra, had been given profitable contracts.

The whole exercise required the co-option of bureaucrats and ministers. Handpicked pliant officers were detailed for the job. The officers, some of whom also extracted their cuts, did the actual paperwork and signed on the files allowing a clutch of patently unfair deals. A few of these officers are already in jail and others may follow suit. Ministers also cooperated. Mopidevi Venkataramana, until a few days ago Andhra Pradesh's excise minister and now in jail for allegedly permitting shady deals that led to allocation of a staggering 24,000 acres of land to a company in 2008 when he was the minister in charge of investments, has said that he knew nothing about the deal and that he was called to the chief minister's office and told by an all-powerful officer to affix his signature, because YSR had wanted it. He says that he could not say no because YSR had pulled him out of oblivion and made him what he was today.

The ministers and the secretaries also made their own deals on the side. For instance, CBI has told the court that KV Brahmananda Reddy, then special secretary in the investment department, had written to the collectors of two districts asking them to make available twice as much land as required for the Vanpic project (which entailed setting up of two ports) and as had been approved by the state cabinet. Once made available, half of this land was handed over to the Vanpic project and the other half to the promoter of the project in the name of another company. In another case, the deletion of three crucial words from a government order led to benefits amounting to crores of rupees to the project promoter. Gali Janardan Reddy had been allotted mines in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district for extracting iron ore to be used in his proposed steel plant as per cabinet approval. But in the government order, mining secretary Y Srilakshmi deleted three crucial words - "for captive use". As a result, Gali was able to export the iron ore to China and earn a windfall. The steel plant never came up. Srilakshmi is now in jail and has said she got the draft GO cleared by minister Sabitha Indra Reddy. The minister says she knew nothing and that Srilakshmi dealt directly with the chief minister (YSR) or his office.

The point to note is that in all these dealings, Jagan was nowhere in sight. Neither did he talk to any officer nor did he directly give any instructions. The CBI case against Jagan - three chargesheets have been filed and three more are expected - is that he was the beneficiary of all these moves. This was because when he set up media companies to bring out a newspaper - all pages colour, published from 23 centres from Day 1 and having its own presses at all the centres - and a TV station, the people who invested in equity were none other than those who had benefited from these patently unfair deals with the state government.

There are also investments from companies in Mauritius whose ownership has not been properly established. But CBI officials say that these companies were probably laundering money that had gone from India, back to the country. CBI has also stumbled upon dozens of paper companies with headquarters in places as far afield as Howrah and Rajkot that invested in Jagan's companies.

Jagan began to be seen in Andhra Pradesh from late 2008 onwards. This was around the time the newspaper began to be published. Regardless of the public claims, the media companies were floated to articulate the politics of YSR, drum up support for him and counter the news stories carried by other media outlets. The TV channel and the paper did well with liberal dollops of government advertisements.

In the 2009 general election, Jagan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kadapa - forcing uncle Vivekananda out, as YSR led the Congress to a second consective victory in the state, albeit with a reduced majority. YSR had been given a free hand in the selection of candidates, so most of the Congress candidates were his own men. Many of them had won the elections with funds given by YSR and they knew nobody else in politics. A few months later, when YSR suddenly died, these MLAs were left orphaned. They rallied around Jagan.

As for Jagan, he did the unthinkable. Even as his father's body lay in state he demanded the chief minister's "gaddi" from Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, who had come to offer condolences; a signature campaign was organized among MLAs (many months later Jagan told this writer that he was not behind the move). The last two and half years have seen a jostling for power with Jagan ultimately resigning from the Congress to start his own outfit - YSR Congress. His party has gone from strength to strength, helped by the confusion in the central leadership of the Congress about how to deal with him - the opinion swinging alternately between "let's appease him" and "let's punish him". With wheels of fortune spinning quickly in Andhra Pradesh, the party bosses have launched a full-fledged assault on Jagan's citadel. Whether they will succeed or not remains to seen.

They are up against a man who represents two characters: on the one hand, he is the quintessential post-liberalization politician for whom there is little to separate his politics from his business; on the other, he is cast in a feudal mode, demanding total loyalty of his men, many of whom are connected to him through ties of family, caste and business.

[Gudavalli]

Here we go. The real drama begins now.

Nicely timed arrest.

[Prodigist]

I don't think its been timed nicely.. There will be quite a lot of sympathy votes for that crook.. YSR congress will win most of those seats because of that and plus anti-Jagan votes will split between TDP and Congress

But I hope this guy never comes out of Jail again..

[Gudavalli]

Originally Posted by Prodigist

I don't think its been timed nicely.. There will be quite a lot of sympathy votes for that crook.. YSR congress will win most of those seats because of that and plus anti-Jagan votes will split between TDP and Congress

But I hope this guy never comes out of Jail again..

Vijayamma already started playing her sympathetic role.

How much support does Jagan have anyway? Surely not enough to become the CM of AP?

2 weeks to bypolls. That's a long time. This hype won't last for 2 weeks.

Heard Jagan say that this is a plan by Congress & TDP to stop his publicity programme. What's up dude? You're getting 24/7 publicity on all news channels

CBI should target KCR next.

Also, don't take anything I say personally if you're sentimental towards a particular party or region.

[Prodigist]

Originally Posted by Gudavalli

How much support does Jagan have anyway? Surely not enough to become the CM of AP?

2 weeks to bypolls. That's a long time. This hype won't last for 2 weeks.

CBI should target KCR next.

Also, don't take anything I say personally if you're sentimental towards a particular party or region.

No way he's going to be CM of AP but he might get away with all his ill-gotten wealth.. Its time we flog people like that in public to set an example.

People from Coastal districts say that his following is pretty high particularly among Christian population in those districts (Not offense to anyone reading this. I'm 100% secular).They estimate that this population is around 15%(Dont know how they came to this conclusion but the reason they give is that people dont change their religion officially because they lose reservations). If the other votes split up then this segment will play a role.

KCR is still a small fry.. What can CBI do to him now because he's not been in power to indulge in corruption(of that level). Maybe IT dept can do something. But surely he wont be in jail for long. Plus there will be unnecessary violence. I think KCR is a very narrow-minded politician,not because he's demanding Telangana but because he could have done so much when he was in power in UPA-1 and yet he did nothing.

[srivatsayb]

Jagan will be the chiranjeevi of 2014...He will get 18-20% of the vote and play havoc for either the TDP or congress...Reddy's and Mala sun caste SC's (many who are SC Christians) will back him...

Congress just needs to focus on governance and stem the tide, with him in jail it will get 6-8 months to get back on track...Congress is planning on an Kapu consolidation in the coastal districts (even in telengana)..remains to be seen if this happens...develop urban centres and continue welfare policies for poor should be their agenda...

TDP is totally losing focus, they dont know who their enemy is!! they dont take or keep shifting stand on telegana..their base in coastal andhra is breaking bcos ppl are saying its Cong vs YSR cong now!! CBN really really needs to change things to have any say in govt formation...

[Prodigist]

Ya.. CBN is totally losing it.. TDP just cant maintain status quo because they are being attacked by both TRS and YSR Congress.. I see no way out of this for them unless they fully support a separate state for Telangana..

I dont think you can count the Reddy vote in favour of YSR Congress. Can you?? Traditionally they support the Congress. And i dont see any reason why all of them would switch sides. Unless of course YSR clean sweep the elections. I say this because YSR and family members are big factionalists and they have a lot of internal rivalries as well(eg. JC Diwakar Reddy from Anantapur)

Sad thing is that the Congress has been unable to govern the state properly beacuse of various reasons.. During the first term a year before the 2009 elections YSR gave away freebies like fee reimbursements etc without any fiscal responsibility. He used to get away with such doles before by selling land in and around Hyderabad to raise money for development.. Unfortunately that is what the Congress cant do now because of the Telangana factor.

Even though Congress is governing ok (Not great but just Ok) given the circumstances, people just do not want them back.

Kapus are not a single consolidated caste.. Kapus from coastal Andhra(specially Krishna, WG and Prakasam dists) are land owning forward castes.. While most Kapus are BC's in Telangana and Rayalseema.. With many divisions between them. I dont see any way they will consolidate themselves into a single vote bank

[srivatsayb]

Originally Posted by Prodigist

Ya.. CBN is totally losing it.. TDP just cant maintain status quo because they are being attacked by both TRS and YSR Congress.. I see no way out of this for them unless they fully support a separate state for Telangana..

I dont think you can count the Reddy vote in favour of YSR Congress. Can you?? Traditionally they support the Congress. And i dont see any reason why all of them would switch sides. Unless of course YSR clean sweep the elections. I say this because YSR and family members are big factionalists and they have a lot of internal rivalries as well(eg. JC Diwakar Reddy from Anantapur)

Sad thing is that the Congress has been unable to govern the state properly beacuse of various reasons.. During the first term a year before the 2009 elections YSR gave away freebies like fee reimbursements etc without any fiscal responsibility. He used to get away with such doles before by selling land in and around Hyderabad to raise money for development.. Unfortunately that is what the Congress cant do now because of the Telangana factor.

Even though Congress is governing ok (Not great but just Ok) given the circumstances, people just do not want them back.

Kapus are not a single consolidated caste.. Kapus from coastal Andhra(specially Krishna, WG and Prakasam dists) are land owning forward castes.. While most Kapus are BC's in Telangana and Rayalseema.. With many divisions between them. I dont see any way they will consolidate themselves into a single vote bank

Yes you are right. CBN has to take a call/bet and move forward, else the TDP will be decimated..

Reddy's as you say dont have any real reason to jump ship unless ofcourse it becomes clear that Jagan will win the elections..one of the reasons cong went for Jagans arrest is to neutralize him for the long term..

The Kapu bet is a plan which bcos of the reasons you sighted is difficult (also the reason why it has never happened even though they are numerically much higher than the reddy's or the Kamma's) ..but sources say that if Reddy's desert cong then Kapu's are the only ones who will save them..chiranjeevi can be a emotional rallying point along with botsa..

Kiran reddy is doing rather well only given the havoc circumstances..but nowhere close to win the election...If jagan stays in for sometime, this will give him time to perform..if not then cong will perish..

AP2014 will be the most interesting of all elections!! i feel it will be big time hung elections and AP will have another elections come 2015-16

[Prodigist]

That is if it goes to 2014 at all .. But hung it will be for sure divided on regional lines
And I dont think anyone can form a government so it will be presidents rule and another election after 6 months.

[srivatsayb]

Originally Posted by Prodigist

That is if it goes to 2014 at all .. But hung it will be for sure divided on regional lines
And I dont think anyone can form a government so it will be presidents rule and another election after 6 months.

It will go i think bro..TDP does not want elections now, so if No confidence motion is moved by anyone else they will stage a walkout/abstain...

[Prodigist]

Originally Posted by srivatsayb

It will go i think bro..TDP does not want elections now, so if No confidence motion is moved by anyone else they will stage a walkout/abstain...

Now I think the government is safe but if YSR Congress clean sweeps the by-polls it will be different because there will be a lot of attrition from Congress as well.

I hope the governance will improve from now on and hope the state starts getting some serious investment. If you see in the last 8 years the government has really not done any real development and planning. Really sad that YSR not only indulged in corruption but also made businessman indulge in it and sullied AP's and Hyderabad's name totally.

[Gudavalli]

I actually agree with you two on the point that Kiran Kumar Reddy is not doing so bad given the current circumstances. Doubt any other party would have done better if they were in his shoes. Ever since he became a CM, either TRS or Jagan were haunting him. Even his own party members launched attacks on him but he hung in there.

A key event which is to come in the next few months is the World Biological Diversity Conference. He is placing a lot of emphasis on this and hoping it to be a success as it's very prestigious to Hyderabad & AP in general.

[RRaju]

Out of 18 by-election seats.

Parakala - will be won by BJP.
out of remaining 17 seats - Congress - 5/6, TDP - 7/8 and YSR Congress - 4/5.

After these elections , The Main film Telangana statehood will resume....

[Prodigist]

Originally Posted by RRaju

Out of 18 by-election seats.

Parakala - will be won by BJP.
out of remaining 17 seats - Congress - 5/6, TDP - 7/8 and YSR Congress - 4/5.

After these elections , The Main film Telangana statehood will resume....

You are being quite optimistic by saying that the BJP will win the Parkala seat. Although I hope it does.

The Main film's shooting is yet to be completed.. It is expected to be released 3 months before the next general elections. Till then even the TRS has nothing to gain by prematurely restarting the movement.

[srivatsayb]

Originally Posted by RRaju

Out of 18 by-election seats.

Parakala - will be won by BJP.
out of remaining 17 seats - Congress - 5/6, TDP - 7/8 and YSR Congress - 4/5.

After these elections , The Main film Telangana statehood will resume....

ha-ha main film shooting with KCR as the hero eh..i wonder how this man even has any credibility left for the telangana cause!!

Interesting dude that you say TDP will win 7/8..i feel it will be either a YSR sweep or equal stakes btw Cong n YSRCong...Parkala i am not too sure, TRS may win...

It will be interesting nevertheless..lets keep this thread alive on political news as well :-)

[Prodigist]

Originally Posted by srivatsayb

Interesting dude that you say TDP will win 7/8..i feel it will be either a YSR sweep or equal stakes btw Cong n YSRCong...Parkala i am not too sure, TRS may win...

Even I was surprised by the prediction of 7 for TDP... Any strong local candidates contesting there on a TDP ticket?

[Gudavalli]

These elections are going to be intense.

[Gudavalli]

IIT-JEE 2012 to implement Andhra Pradesh High Court's decision

The Andhra Pradesh High Court's decision to strike down the 4.5% sub-quota for minorities within OBC reservation for IIT-JEE will be implemented, unless any further legal development or information from ministry of HRD comes by June 13, the IIT-JEE 2012 organising chairman Prof G B Reddy said on Thursday.

"In the absence of any further legal development or information from Ministry of HRD before June 13, the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court will be implemented by ignoring the provision for reservation of 4.5% seats,' Prof Reddy said.

He also said the seats meant for OBC (NCL)-Minority will be converted into OBC (NCL) category. "Therefore, all the short-listed candidates are advised to note that availability of 4.5% reservation for OBC(NCL)-Minority shall depend on the legal developments till June 13 and hence they may register the choice of courses accordingly," Prof Reddy added.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court' decision was to strike down the 4.5% sub-quota for minorities within OBC reservation. According to news reports, this year's IIT-JEE students who are in the middle of the counselling process, were expected to be allotted seats by June 14.

With more than 400 seats kept for the minority sub-quota, students who were hoping to get a college and course of their choice may now lose their chances of getting these seats. Instead, as per the court's decision, they will now have to compete in the overall OBC quota, which is at 27%.

[Gudavalli]

Dairy business in Andhra Pradesh hits jackpot

HYDERABAD: The dairy industry in Andhra Pradesh has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years to be currently worth Rs 5,000 crore. With around 200 small and large dairy farms coming up in the city in the past four years, the agro-based dairy business seems more lucrative than ever.

The rise in the demand for milk and milk products has catapulted the state to the third position in the country in terms of milk production with 1.12 crore tonnes produced in 2010-11. With dairy farms and processing plants of different sizes scattered across city suburbs such as Shadnagar, Patencheru, Madhapur and along the Nagarjuna Sagar and Siddipet Roads, industry experts peg the mushrooming of these farms and of those across the state to the burgeoning population and the retail revolution in the city.

Significantly, in a bid to protect their lands, many farm owners set up dairy farms on the city outskirts. Dairy farming consultant Dr Padmakar Rao says, "The availability of good quality fodder and access to water helped these farmers on the outskirts of the city to get a foothold in the business."

Experts pointed out that though the government had liberalised its policies on private entities making a foray into the dairy business in late 1991, it is only now that the private players have made substantial progress.

K Durga Prasad, chief operating officer, Heritage Foods India Ltd, says, "Earlier the market was monopolized by APDDCF and Visakha Dairy. Now, there are many private players such as Heritage, Tirumala and Creamline apart from others such as Masqati and Bilal.

Waking up to the big money in milk, Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation ( APDDFC) will start mapping every drop of milk procured and sold. The cooperative had a turnover of Rs 450 crore in the last fiscal and milk sales have registered a growth of 9.82% with 1,395 lakh litres sold in 2011-12, according to vice-chairman and managing director, Mohd Ali Rafath.

Experts estimate that the consumption of milk will increase manifold over the next decade. Bhaskar Reddy, managing director, Creamline Dairy Corporation says, "According to national statistics, milk consumption will increase from 112 million tonnes this year to a staggering 200 million tonnes by 2020."