Cong to wait for ’emotions to cool’ before deciding Jagan issue

New Delhi, Sep 11 : The Congress leadership would wait for emotions to cool down before deciding on the issue of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today hinted and said the party would take an ’appropriate decision at appropriate time.’

’’It is not a big issue. Sometimes such things happen,’’ Mr Mukherjee said while reacting to the vociferous demand made by most Andhra Pradesh MLAs that former Chief Minister Y S R Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy be appointed as his successor.

Stating that no decision has been taken yet about the next Chief Minister, Mr Mukherjee, however, hoped that the matter be resolved and a way out would be found.

’’It is very unfortunate that Andhra Pradesh lost a tall leader and Chief Minister who was at his Zenith. Emotional upset is there.

I do hope that it will be possible for the leadership to find a way out, for the Congress legislature Party to choose and select the next leader. It may take sometime but it will resolve. Nothing has been decided as yet,’’ he said while interacting to members of Indian Women’s Press Corps here.

Regarding the demand that Jagan Mohan Reddy be made the Chief Minister, he said, emotionally upset by Mr Y S R Reddy’s untimely death, some people have suggested it on the basis of popular acceptability, but ’’sense has to be brought’’. The Congress will take appropriate decision to this at appropriate time, he added.

Asked about the possibility of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy being made the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mukherjee jokingly quipped ’’you people are giving ideas.’’ Asked whether Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy be made the Chief Minister or not, he said, ’’I am neither ruling out anything, nor ruling in.’’

--UNI

Will Chiru join Congress?

While Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu showed his utter disregard for late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy at the condolence meeting held at Ravindra Bharati on Friday, Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi presented a completely contrasting picture.

Chiranjeevi’s speech was more like that of a Congress leader and a die-hard YSR loyalist, rather than that of an opposition leader. He lavished praises on YSR and his leadership abilities, saying he had never seen such a mass leader in the past or would see in future. The PRP president recalled every moment of his association with YSR including his smile, his friendly appearance and his daring nature. He even recalled how he travelled along with YSR from Kadapa to Hyderabad, bypassing Nallamala forests.

One wondered whether Chiranjeevi has any plans to join the Congress, as he was asking everybody to carry forward the programmes and policies of YSR and follow his leadership. “I feel fortunate to be associated with him in assembly. It was an education to listen to his speeches, observe his style of answering debates and tackling the leaders. I never felt an opposition party member,” he said. What do you say?

Centre urged to name BHEL-NTPC project after YSR

HYDERABAD: The State government has urged the Centre to name after Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy the proposed Rs.6,000-crore BHEL-NTPC power equipment plant in Chittoor district.

This was stated by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah at an all-party condolence meeting on YSR organised by the State government here on Friday. He wrote a letter to the Centre on Thursday proposing that the project be named after the late Chief Minister. He said YSR had given a new definition to politics and ensured that every assurance given by him was implemented.

Paying rich tributes to YSR, leaders of various political parties as also Legislative Council Chairman A. Chakrapani and Assembly Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy called for implementing all the developmental and welfare schemes initiated by the former Chief Minister.

Mr. Chakrapani, recalling his association with YSR, said that the latter had brought lot of glory to Telugus. Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy said the former Chief Minister, in spite of his hectic schedule, used to greet everyone affectionately. It was hard to even imagine how the Assembly would function without a smiling YSR.

Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu said that he had lost a good friend in the death of YSR. Though they fought politically, there was no personal animus between them. Both of them served as Ministers in the Cabinets of three Congress Chief Ministers.

APCC president D. Srinivas said YSR was a “decisive and aggressive leader.” A decision taken by him would have to be implemented irrespective of the consequences.

He and YSR used to run the party and government in a coordinated manner and the same trend should be continued without thinking that he was no more. Praja Rajyam leader K. Chiranjeevi said that he drew inspiration from YSR and recalled the personal warmth exuded by the late leader while interacting with him and others.

MIM president and MP Asaddudin Owaisi said Muslims would never forget what he had done for them — ensuring 4 per cent reservation in employment and education. He lauded the late leader for announcing Rs.2,000-crore package for development old city.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhar Rao said YSR had left an indelible imprint while serving in whatever capacity, be it as leader of the Opposition or Chief Minister. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandaru Dattatreya, CPI(M) leader B.V.Raghavulu, CPI State secretary K. Narayana, Lok Satta leader, Jayaprakash Narayan and Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, brother of YSR spoke.

sourse: the hindu

New Andhra Govt sworn in

Ending three days of confusion, ministers of the erstwhile Cabinet of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, including all the loyalists of the late chief minister, were on Sunday sworn in afresh as required under the Constitution. They were administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor N D Tiwari at a brief ceremony at Raj Bhavan here.

The oath-taking ended all speculation whether YSR loyalists who were clamouring for making his son Jaganmohan Reddy as the next chief minister, would join the government under interim Chief Minister K Rosaiah with the Congress high command invervening and asking them not to precipitate matters during the mourning period that ends next Thursday.

Earlier, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh held discussions with Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao, who was adviser to YSR, and impressed on him that loyalists of the late chief minister should also join the government.

Some seven to eight ministers of YSR cabinet, including P Ramachandra Reddy, J Krishna Rao and Syed Ahmadullah, were reportedly reluctant to join the Rosaiah government. The YSR loyalists held a meeting with Ramachandra Rao who counselled them to give up their diffidence and take oath.

Earlier, the Governor, after consulting legal experts, decided that the ministers would have to take oath afresh to fulfil a constitutional requirement following the swearing-in of new Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Thursday.

There has been a lot of confusion over the status of the ministers who served under Rajasekhara Reddy before his death in a helicopter crash on Wednesday.

Legal experts contended that the ministers were required to again take oath of office afresh since a new Chief Minister had taken over.

Rosaiah himself wrote to the Governor on the issue as he wanted to clear the air. The Governor, in turn, asked state Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy to explain the legal and constitutional position in this regard.

Accordingly, the Chief Secretary and state Advocate General Seetarama Murthy met the Governor late last night and reportedly conveyed to him that the ministers were required to take oath once again.

Official sources said legal and constitutional experts in New Delhi were also consulted. "Since a controversy has arisen over the status of ministers, the concluding view was that it would be better to administer fresh oath of office to them so as to avoid any constitutional violation," a top-ranking official in the General Administration Department said.

Source: India Express

Campaign for YSR son runs into Sonia wall

New Delhi With Congress president Sonia Gandhi deciding to crack the whip on regional leaders seeking to dictate terms in the Andhra Pradesh succession, senior party leader Digvijay Singh was sent to Hyderabad on Sunday to deliver a stern message to Rajya Sabha member Dr K V P Ramachandra Rao — the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s right hand man, and perceived brain behind the feverish campaign to install YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy as chief minister.

Late on Sunday afternoon, Ramachandra Rao, widely known as KVP, gave a dramatic speech to members of YSR’s council of ministers, reminding them that in the Congress, “no one goes against the high command”.

Within an hour, all 34 members of the YSR’s former Cabinet took oath again — and Konijeti Rosaiah took charge of the new government as interim chief minister in Hyderabad.

Digvijay Singh met Jaganmohan and other members of YSR’s family to convey the Congress high command’s displeasure over the high-voltage campaign being waged over the succession, party sources told The Indian Express.

Singh himself, however, told The Express that his visit to Hyderabad had nothing to do with politics: “I met the (Reddy) family to express my condolence. It would have been improper for me to talk about politics with them,” he said.

Singh’s meeting with YSR’s family in Hyderabad came hours after Sonia got a briefing on the situation from the AICC’s Andhra Pradesh in-charge Veerappa Moily in New Delhi.

PM, Sonia pay homage to YSR, thousands line funeral route

Hyderabad Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and a host of party leaders on Friday paid homage to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy, who died in a chopper crash.

The Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit placed wreaths on Reddy's body at the Chief Minister's Camp office in Begumpet area in Hyderabad.

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and senior BJP leader L K Advani, Home Minister P Chidambaram and other Union Ministers including Sushil Kumar Shinde, Salman Khurshid and Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari were among others who offered their tributes and placed wreaths on Reddy's body.

The leaders consoled the family members including the late Chief Minister's son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Thousands of party workers, who came in from different parts of the state, also paid homage to their departed leader throughout the night.

The leaders also wrote condolence messages in a book at the camp office.

Thereafter, the funeral cortege moved out of the premises and moved along a designated route towards the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, where it will lie in state for about three hours to allow the general public and politicians to pay their last respects to the departed leader.

The Andhra Pradesh capital was a sea of grieving humanity as people from all walks of life gathered in tens of thousands on major thoroughfares to give a fitting farewell to their son of the soil, YSR.

The flower bedecked army truck and funeral convoy, led by his emotionally distressed son M Jagan Reddy, wound its way slowly through the streets of the city towards the stadium. Jagan Reddy greeted the emotionally charged masses lining the route with folded hands.

The mortal remains of Reddy and four others, who died in a chopper crash in Kurnool district after it went missing on its way to Chittoor from Hyderabad on September 2, was brought to the city by a special IAF helicopter on Thursday evening.

Source: india express

Thousands of tearful mourners pay last respect to YSR

Hyderabad The flag-draped and flower-bedecked coffin of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy left the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium on Friday afternoon, hours after it was placed there for the general public and leaders to pay their last respects.

The funeral convoy is headed to Hyderabad's Begumpet Airport from where the coffin carrying the body of the late chief minister will be flown to his native village Pulivendula in Kadapa district and laid to rest in full state honours at 5 pm.

Thousands of mourners on Friday swarmed the city to bid a tearful adieu to Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

The journey began from his house in Begumpet in Hyderabad after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and top Congress leaders paid homage and placed wreaths on his body.

Wrapped in tri-colour and kept in a bedecked open army truck, the body was taken first to Gandhi Bhavan - the state headquarters of Congress - in Nampally here to chants of 'YSR

amar rahe'.

Thereafter, the funeral cortege moved out of the premises and moved along a designated route towards the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, where the late chief minister's body will lie in state till about 1 pm to allow the general public and the political leadership to pay their last respects. It will then be flown to his native village for final rites.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister AK Antony and Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed also arrived in Hyderabad on Friday morning.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and senior BJP leader L K Advani were among several governors and leaders from all political spectrums who paid their last respects to the late YSR.

The body of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was found deep inside the Nallamala forest on Thursday morning, almost 24 hours after his helicopter went missing. The body of YSR was found with the seat belt still around him. He was identified by his while dhoti and shirt.

Also dead in the crash were the CM’s Principal Secretary P Subramanium, Chief Security Officer A S C John Wesley, pilot Group Captain S K Bhatia and co-pilot M S Reddy.

The death of 60-year-old YSR, who led the Congress to two successive election wins in the state and became one of its most powerful chief ministers, has left a huge hole in Andhra politics with the party struggling to find a successor. State Finance Minister K Rosaiah has been made acting Chief Minister.

YSR is survived by wife Vijayalakshmi, son and MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter Sharmila.

YSR's chopper deviated from route, hit a cliff

The helicopter carrying Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy from Hyderabad to Chittoor on Wednesday deviated 18 km from its path towards east, near Rudrakoduru in the Nallamala forest range in Kurnool district, before it hit a cliff and crashed.

"The chopper hit the cliff, crashed and exploded. All the five persons in the ill-fated helicopter were burnt to death," state Finance Minister K Rosaiah and Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy said in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The chopper might have drifted from its path because of a large cloud formation due to inclement weather and ended up hitting the cliff, they said.

Except the tail portion, the body of the Bell-430 helicopter of AP Aviation Corporation was reduced to bits and pieces in the mishap.

Source: India Express

YSR to be buried in native village on Friday

The last rites of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajsekhar Reddy will be held with full state honours at his native place Pulivendula in Cuddapah district on Friday.

According to sources the burial of the departed Chief Minister will be held at around 2 pm. Before that, the dead chief minister’s body will lie in state at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium from Friday morning till about 1 pm to allow the general public and the political leadership to pay their last respects. It will then be flown to his native village in Cuddapah District for final rites.

The charred and decomposed bodies of Reddy and four others were airlifted by an Indian Air Force helicopter to state capital, where autopsy was conducted.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has declared seven days state mourning in honour of YSR and cancelled all the official programmes in the state and the national flag will be hoisted at half-mast.

Source: India express

YSR's body brought to Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: The body of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash, was brought to the state

capital on Thursday evening.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter carrying YSR's body landed at the old airport at Begumpet. State ministers and senior leaders of the ruling Congress received the casket at the airport.

It was then taken to the chief minister's camp office, where his family members and close relatives and friends were present.

The bodies of YSR's Special Secretary P. Subrahmanyam, chief security officer A.S.C. Wesley and pilots S.K. Bhatia and M.S. Reddy were also being brought here before being sent to their respective home towns.

Earlier, the bodies were brought from the crash site in Nallamalla forests to Kurnool town, where an autopsy was conducted.

Since the bodies were charred beyond recognition and were decomposed, the military personnel had a tough time in air lifting them from the crash site.

A team of forensic experts conducted the autopsy on the remains of the five and the caskets were later kept in an IAF helicopter for taking them to Hyderabad.

YSR's body will be kept at the Lal Bahadur Stadium from 10 a.m. Friday for people to pay homage. It will be then taken to his native Pulivendula town in Kadapa district for state funeral.

AP Home Minister Sabitha Reddy no poltical motive in Kovvur MLA

Asserting that there was no ’ulterior’ motive behind the arrest of TDP MLA T V Rama Rao in connection with a sexual assault case, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabita Reddy today made it clear that the law would take its own course’’. The Minister was making a statement in the Assembly when the arrest of Rao for allegedly outraging the modesty of two girl students from Kerala, was raised in the House under rule 344 by Mr M Narasimhulu and other TDP members. He contended the Congress government had foisted the case against him as he was a ’’Dalit MLA’’ and refused to switch over to the ruling Congress from the TDP.Alleging that the TDP member was trying to shield himself by attributing political motives, the Minister denied the charge that the Congress had resorted to political vindictiveness as Mr Rao did not join the ruling party. Investigations were being done by the police impartially as per the law, she added.

YSR and finance minister Rosaiah keep their vool in Assembly

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and the finance minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, were unusually sober and accommodating in the Assembly on Thursday apparently to run things smoothly.This was a sea change from Wednesday when there was a heated discussion over the proceedings. The ruling party seems to have deliberately decided to keep a low-profile to help run the House. The Opposition, except for the Telugu Desam, responded positively to this display of sobriety by the ruling party. MLAs of the Opposition were particularly surprised when the ever-aggressive Mr Rosaiah also tried his best to be cordial.He kept his cool even when there was a chance to criticise the main opposition party, the TD and its president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu. The Chief Minister, who also never misses an opportunity to make sharp remarks on Mr Naidu, maintained restraint throughout his hour-long speech on the 9-hour power supply to the farmers. The TD members continued to heckle him but the Chief Minister did not lose his cool and pleaded with them to give him a chance to explain the government stand. “This is not fair on the part of the main Opposition,” said Dr Reddy.“They level allegations on the government and at the same time do not allow us to explain our version. This is unfair

Jaswant Singh blames Nehru, Patel for partition on Pak television

Islamabad: Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has once again invited controversy by blaming India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. In an interview with the Dawn News, Singh blamed Pandit Nehru and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for the partition and creation of Pakistan.Referring to Nehru’s Tryst with destiny speech, Singh said it was nothing short of double standard as Nehru himself talked of secularism while contributing to the country’s division along with Sardar Patel on grounds of so called ’faith’.Singh claimed that later Nehru had himself admitted of being responsible for the partition. It is worth mentioning here that Jaswant Singh’s book ’Jinnah: ndia-Partition-Independence’ which saw him being expelled from the BJP after serving it for nearly 30 years has received an overwhelming response in Pakistan.Singh, in his book, has glorified Jinnah while blaming Sardar Patel for the country’s division in 1947. The book quotes Singh as saying that Jinnah did not win Pakistan, rather Nehru and Patel conceded Pakistan to Jinnah with the help of the British.Meanwhile, authorities have denied permission to Singh to visit Pakistan to launch his book. However, Singh’s son Manvendra Singh said his father has not applied for a visa, and as far as he knew. He also rejected reports that there was a different Pakistan edition of the book.