Petrol price hike to take call on Delhi on Mamata Banerjee

Stepping up pressure on its ally, the UPA, over petrol price hike, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has asked all its MPs to be in Delhi on Tuesday. Party leader Derek O'Brien tweeted today that the Trinamool leaders will meet the Prime Minister on Tuesday.
Even if Mamata was given priority to explain the state's poor financial condition left behind by the Left Front government in the National Development Council meeting in New Delhi, funds have not started coming when she wants it badly.

The Trinamool chief thus wants to put pressure on the UPA government to extract the goodies that she has to deliver to the people in the villages before the panchayat polls, likely to be held by the end of 2012.

The fiery Trinamool chief has already held a meeting with the state officials starting from the district magistrates to the block development officers on Thursday to rejig the delivery mechanism.
The TMC leaders want changes in operational structure of the UPA; they will also put forward their demand for monthly or quarterly meetings.

Sources say there is a possibility that Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee could pull out ministers from the Cabinet if the impasse over the petrol price hike is not broken. Sources also added that resignation letters of Trinamool ministers are with their chief.

Ms Banerjee has threatened to quit the UPA on the contentious issue. She is warning of withdrawing support from the Centre not just over the fuel price hike but also in the manner in which it was introduced.

With her 18 Lok Sabha MPs, Ms Banerjee is the Congress' largest ally and an indispensable part of the UPA. Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi is the only Cabinet minister from the party. Other Trinamool leaders in the government are Mukul Roy, Minister of State, Shipping; Sudeep Bandopadhyay, Minister of State, Health; Saugata Roy, Minister of State, Urban Development; CM Jatua, Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting; Sisir Adhikari, Minister of State, Rural Development and Sultan Ahmed, Minister of State, Tourism.

Ms Banerjee met with her MPs on Friday afternoon - the day petrol price hike was announced - and then held a press conference where she said that her party had not been consulted about the hike, and that her MPs are willing to quit the UPA if they are excluded from decisions like this one which affect the common man. "There is no way our MPs can defend this to our people," she said.

But the Prime Minister defended the decision to hike the petrol prices. "The move to decontrol petrol prices is part of the process of the direction in which we should move," Dr Manmohan Singh said at the G20 Summit in Cannes on Friday. The government had deregulated or freed petrol from all price controls last year.

Cornered by Trinamool and the Opposition over the petrol price hike issue, the government today found support in another ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Party chief Sharad Pawar endorsed the stand of the Prime Minister on the contentious issue.

"Anyone who understands world politics will agree with the Prime Minister's statement on the petrol hike. Economists who understand the world economy will agree with him; I'm not one of them though," said Mr Pawar.

The NCP chief also reacted to Ms Banerjee's threat to quit the Central government saying his party is with the UPA.

State-owned oil companies had, on Friday, increased the price of petrol by Rs. 1.82 per litre, the
second raise in less than two months. The hike in petrol prices led to allegations of a "midnight massacre" by the Opposition. From Mayawati in UP to J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu lashed out at the Centre for the new price hike.
Mamata Banerjee is not going to take the hike in fuel prices lying down.

She has called an emergency meeting of the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party in Kolkata on Friday to decide its future course - whether to continue in the Congress-led UPA Cabinet.

According to sources, the Trinamool supremo has already hardened her stance.

"Mamata Banerjee is extremely displeased over the hike in petroleum prices. This is not the first time that the Union government took such a decision keeping the UPA partners in the dark," said Trinamool Congress chief whip in Parliament and Union MoS for health Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
So far, petrol prices have been increased four times this year. They were last increased in September by Rs. 3.14. So now, in Delhi, petrol costs R
s. 68.64 as compared to R
s. 58.37 in January.
Bangalore is hit the worst; it now pays Rs. 75.64 per litre.

A number of states will see elections in the next few months and the Congress' "aam aadmi" plank will be difficult to balance with petrol now costing Rs. 17 more than it was at the beginning
of this year.

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CBI questions Andhra Pradesh Home Minister in mining scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation questioned Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy in connection with an illegal mining case involving former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, sources said.

A team of CBI officials Friday night questioned the minister in her office for two hours till 11 p.m., sources said.

The investigating agency quizzed Sabita regarding the mining leases given to Janardhana's Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), allegedly involved in illegal mining in Anantapur district bordering Karnataka.

Sabita was minister for mines in Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet from 2004 to 2009, when OMC was granted leases and permits for iron ore mining.

The home minister was questioned soon after CBI once again grilled Indian Administrative Service officer Srilakshmi for four hours at its office. She was the mining secretary when OMC was granted leases.

The federal agency had already questioned Srilakshmi and former director of mines and geology V.D. Rajagopal in connection with the alleged violation of rules for granting mining leases to OMC.

Janardhana, who owns OMC, and his brother-in-law and OMC Managing Director Srinivasa Reddy are already lodged at Chanchalguda Central Jail here. They were arrested by CBI Sep 5 from Bellary in Karnataka.

By questioning Sabita and Sriklakshmi, the CBI has stepped up investigations into the illegal mining case registered in 2009.

CBI Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana had said Oct 27 that they would soon file the chargesheet in the case.

The investigating agency had already told the special court here that the illegal mining was carried out in collusion with several public servants.

KCR fire on Chandrababu Naidu and co

Amid mounting criticism by TDP and BJP that the technical bids for the Rs 4,714-crore Polavaram Indirasagar Project were cornered by contractors allegedly close to Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao, the TRS chief has written a letter to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy urging the government to cancel the tenders forthwith and put a halt to the construction as advised by the Union government till the matter is adjudicated by the Supreme Court.
Polavaram: KCR tells CM to cancel all bids
Accusing former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy of grounding the project works in great haste, Rao in his three-page letter on Sunday stated that he had been opposing the project right from the beginning itself. "The project was grounded in great haste by your predecessor, violating all laws of the land namely Environment Act 1986, Forest Act 1980, PESA Act 1996 and the Bachawat award. I requested the government to look for alternatives as the project was submerging extensive tracts of scheduled areas of AP, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, displacing 73,000 STs of which 60,770 are from the state," he observed.
Telangana Telugu Desam Forum has blamed the TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao for “dilution” of the movement for separate Statehood when it was at its peak.
Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, reminding the latter about his objections regarding Polavaram “right from the commencement of the project” and urged that construction should be halted as advised by the Centre till the Supreme Court took a decision on the matte
In a statement, Forum leader, Motkupalli Narasimhulu said Mr. Rao owed an apology to the people of Telangana for letting them down badly. While full credit goes to government employees of the region for selflessly continuing the strike for 42 long days, Mr. Rao would go down as a “traitor” of the movement. Unfortunately political leaders of the region could not match the employees' determination.
kcr fires to chandrababu naidu and kcr said that he was deposited in onely telengana chanel and news paper but he is not deposited own bussines babu has open markets and kcr demeand how to get lot of money from 2 yerkars land.kcr asked many questins to babu.kcr fire to chandrababu naidu and her MLAS.
By going to Delhi for lobbying for an irrigation project contract, the TRS chief did what former Chief Minister M. Channa Reddy did in the past. If the latter was responsible for the sacrifice of 400 people, the former is to be blamed for the loss of 600 students who had committed suicide.

Advani escapes bomb attack in Madurai

Senior BJP leader L K Advani escaped an alleged attempt on his life in Madurai on Friday morning. A crude pipe bomb planted under a bridge in a village near Madurai in Tamil Nadu was detected after a tip off by a villager and defused.

Advani was scheduled to cross the bridge at Alampatti near Thirumangalam, about 25 kilometres from Madurai to reach Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district. The leader, who is on Jan Chetna Yatra changed his route and reached Sriviliputhur from where he is set to travel to Shencottah in Tamil Nadu - Kerala border. The bomb has been defused.

Police said the six feet long pipe hidden under a low level bridge across a stream in Alampatti was made of poly vinyl chloride (PVC).

It was stuffed with explosives and connected to a wire linked to battery kept about half-a-kilometer away near a palm tree in a deserted place, a senior police official said. M Selvaraj (49), a villager spotted the wire around 6 am when he went to the place to answer nature's call and informed the village elders, who in turn alerted the police.
The detection of the crude bomb on the route of Advani has come as a major intelligence failure. This is the third incident of crude bomb being found in Madurai this year alone and fourth incident in the last two years. Strangely, the police have not made any headway in cracking the cases and arresting the culprits in any of the incidents. The recent incident was on September 29 when a crude bomb was found planted inside a government bus. Even at that time the blast was averted as a state transport corporation employee spotted the explosive and informed the police. In May last a similar bomb exploded in a dust bin near the crowded Mattuthavani bus stand.

Why Has KCR Gone Into Silent Mode???

 
Why has the TRS chief gone into oblivion? One reason could be: he is really guilty of supporting the tenders, albeit indirectly; and that any reaction from him would only complicate the matters further.

Secondly, he must be of the view that the people’s memory is short and the allegations would subside within a few days.

Thirdly, the Telangana agitation is at cross roads and KCR himself is in a state of confusion. Unless there is a concrete action plan, he would not be able to speak out. Or the fourth reason could be: he might have got a message from the Centre about some decision on the Telangana issue and that he better maintain some restraint till a solution comes out.
Ever since he returned from New Delhi in the first week of October, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao has gone completely into silent mode.

In the last 10 days, there has been a spate of allegations against KCR that he had forced the abrupt ending of the indefinite Telangana strike only as a quid pro quo for allotment of Polavaram tenders to his business partner C L Rajam.

The Telugu Desam Party has been attacking him almost on a daily basis, but except his party leaders, KCR has not come out with a single statement condemning the same.

The only reaction from him was a letter written to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy seeking cancellation of Polavaram tenders.

Congress MP, two others released on bail

A local court today granted bail to Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar and two others who were arrested in connection with 'rail roko' protests in support of separate Telangana state.

Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar, former minister T Jeevan Reddy and Congress party leader Y Sunil Rao were arrested at Alugunoor village crossroads when they were on their way to Jammikunta from Karimnagar to participate in 'rail roko' agitation on Saturday.

The court had remanded them in judicial custody, and they were lodged in Karimnagar District Jail.

The Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, C Rajender Reddy granted them bail on furnishing two sureties each.

The court further directed the trio to appear before it on every first Monday of the month till the charge sheet is filed. Accordingly, they were released from jail this evening.

After their release from jail, Ponnam Prabhakar told reporters that their arrest was a "shame" on the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.

T-Congress men to fight in Delhi

With the Telangana employees withdrawing their agitation, the T-Congress leaders are looking towards the Congress central leadership for its stand on the statehood issue. However, the leaders are clueless about the party’s stand. “We only see newspaper reports claiming that the Congress is going to announce its stand in November, before the beginning of Parliament’s Winter Session, but so far there is no confirmation from party leaders about this,” said the AICC secretary and Congress MLC, Mr P. Sudhakara Reddy.
The meeting was attended by most of the Congress MPs from the region, who decided to intensify their agitation and even submit fresh resignations in order to build up the tempo of the movement. Though there was no official word on fresh resignations, the steering committee co-chairman Mr K. Kesava Rao told news persons that some key decisions were taken at the meeting which will be revealed later if necessary. Several MPs took Mr Jana Reddy to task for his public statement asking employees to call off the strike when Congress MPs and MLAs were arrested and sent to jail. Former minister Mr Komatireddy Venkata Reddy told the media that Congress leaders will continue to participate in all types of agitations organised by other partiy

A majority of T-ministers and MLAs stayed away from the three-hour Telangana Congress steering committee meeting which was held on Tuesday evening. The panchayati raj minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, who is the co-chairman of the steering committee, was the only minister who attended the meeting. He declared at the end of the meeting that he will be a front-runner in the T-movement, and was even willing to sacrifice his position for the cause.

Telangana employees call off 42-day-old strike

Government employees in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Monday night called off their 42-day-long strike for a separate Telangana state.
Government employees in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh called off their 42-day-long strike for a separate Telangana state on Monday night.
Andhra Pradesh called off their 42-day-long strike for a separate state on Monday night. Leaders of Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) decided to call off the strike following talks with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. Over 400,000 employees, who were on strike since September 13, will return to work from Tuesday. The chief minister agreed to all nine demands of the employees. The government and TEJAC
  leaders signed an agreement after several rounds of talks during the day. The government agreed to treat the strike period as special leave and to pay the salaries by approaching the high court to seek exemption from "no work no pay" rule as a special case. It also accepted the TEJAC's demand to withdraw cases booked against striking employees and reinstate those removed from service.
Leaders of Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) decided to call off the strike following talks with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
The chief minister agreed to all nine demands of the employees. The government and TEJAC leaders signed an agreement after several rounds of talks during the day.
Over 400,000 employees, who were on strike since September 13, will return to work from Tuesday.

The chief minister agreed to all nine demands of the employees. The government and TEJAC leaders signed an agreement after several rounds of talks during the day.

The government agreed to treat the strike period as special leave and to pay the salaries by approaching the high court to seek exemption from "no work no pay" rule as a special case.

It also accepted the TEJAC's demand to withdraw cases booked against striking employees and reinstate those removed from service.
Leaders of Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) decided to call off the strike following talks with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Over 400,000 employees, who were on strike since September 13 as part of a people's strike to demand the creation of a Telangana state, will return to work from Tuesday

The chief minister agreed to all nine demands of the employees. The government and TEJAC leaders signed an agreement after several rounds of talks during the day.

The government agreed to treat the strike period as special leave and to pay the salaries by approaching the high court to seek exemption from "no work no pay" rule as a special case.

It also accepted the TEJAC's demand to withdraw cases booked against striking employees and reinstate those removed from service.

The government agreed to form a committee to monitor implementation of Government Order 610 relating to repatriation of employees belonging to other regions of the state.

With TEJAC's decision, all sections of employees and workers in the region have called off their strike.

Last week, teachers, transport employees and coal workers had withdrawn the strike.

Congress to use DS to solve T-row

A heavy weight in Telangana centric politics, Mr Srinivas’ return to one of the two Legislative bodies in the state, is likely to see Telangana Congress leaders rallying around him in the coming days, and more leaders deserting the Telangana Congress steering committee. Mr Srinivas is known as a staunch Congress loyalist who is sincere to the Telangana cause. Due to his seniority in the Telangana region, he is also likely to be inducted in the Cabinet whenever the Cabinet reshuffle takes place.

He will also likely to be chosen as Leader of the House in Council, a post held by the Chief Minister at present. Mr Srinivas’ candidature was finalised on Sunday midnight, and he filed his papers on Monday accompanied by several Congress ministers, MLAs and MPs. Since there was only one nomination from Mr Srinivas, his election for the lone MLC seat caused by the resignation of Mr K. Rosaiah will be unanimous. The remaining tenure for this MLC seat will be upto March 2015.
The surprise selection of the former PCC chief, Mr D. Srinivas, for the lone MLC seat, seems to have revealed a message from the Congress high command that it is not happy with the confrontationist attitude of the Telangana Congress Steering Committee. Mr Srinivas was defeated twice from the Nizamabad Assembly segment and the Congress seems to be keen on using his services to resolve the Telangana issue. The former PCC chief has been closely involved in framing the party’s policies on Telangana since the 2004 general elections and was instrumental in negotiating a pact with the TRS.