HYDERABAD ELECTIONS 2009

Netas, abhinetas scurry for security cover

2009-03-25T00:51:00.000-07:00

By M H Ahssan

Being in the thick of electioneering, politicians are seeking security cover but the police does not have enough gunmen to spare. In Hyderabad, several politicians and film personalities who have been actively campaigning for various parties have requested for armed security personnel.

These include, actor Balakrishna who is campaigning for the TDP, Pavan Kalyan of the PRP and BSP state president Paramjyothi.

Based on the threat perception report (TPR) from the intelligence department, Balakrishna has been provided with two gunmen who will work in shifts.

For each gunman he has to pay Rs 24,000 per month. However, these charges apply only to private individuals who want security. Public representatives like MPs and MLAs are provided security based on the TPR but they will not have to pay for it.

Actor Rajasekhar’s family has also been provided with 1+1 security. Another actor Pavan Kalyan had sought security and the Special Branch (SB) is assessing the threat level to the PRP youth wing leader. Besides, Chiranjeevi has already been provided with 2+2 security by Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) and City Security Wing (CSW) and the state itself is bearing the expenses because of the threat perception to him.

According to senior officials, several political leaders and film actors have been asking for armed security personnel throughout the state. “Every day district SPs, commissioners of police and the intelligence department are receiving several petitions requesting armed security,” an official from the department said. But, the problem is, there are not enough gunmen readily available with the state police department, the official added.

The ISW is providing security to about 800 individuals across the state. To meet the demand during elections, ISW is provided with personnel from APSP battalions and the same has been done even this year. “The APSP personnel are undergoing training under senior security officials and they will be attached to the ISW force,” an official said.

The CSW which has been providing security to about 150 persons in the city, draws personnel from the City Armed Reserve (CAR) and trains them before assigning to an individual. Apart from gunmen, personnel will also be provided for anti-sabotage checks.

The 450-odd staff of CSW is very busy with its routine work and to meet the demand they are planning to get some personnel from (CAR) to train.

“Due to unavailability of gunmen, sometimes it takes almost a week to provide security even after it is sanctioned.

The problem is, once they are given security, no public re p re s e n t at ive wants to relinquish it,” a CSW official added.

Party hopping, neta style in Hyderabad

2009-03-25T00:48:00.000-07:00

By M H Ahssan

They can put a chameleon to shame. Turncoat politicians are changing colours giving little time for even one’s retina to adjust to their new party affiliations.

Former union minister and film star U VKrishnam Raju who joined the PRP on Tuesday began his political career with the Congress. He then jumped into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which gave him an opportunity to serve as a union minister. However, Raju has now quit that party to join fellow artist Chiranjeevi.

Another late entrant to the PRP, P Upendra has also jumped parties many times. At one time, Upendra was close to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N T Rama Rao and played an important role in national politics by being part of the National Front ministry. Subsequently, Upendra decided to dump the TDP and join the Congress. After a gap in active politics, Upendra has now teamed up with Chiranjeevi looking for a new lease of life in politics. His journey has been much like the first “senior leader” to join the PRP, Ch Harirama Jogaiah. The veteran politician was with the TDP, then went to the Congress and is now in the PRP.

“In this world everybody is looking for opportunities, much in the manner of executives who are constantly looking out for better jobs. With ideologies ceasing to matter, leaders jump parties without any qualms,” a political analyst said.

Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu is one more example of a party hopper. Muddu who hails from TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu’s native district felt suffocated with Naidu at the helm of affairs in the TDP and shifted loyalties to the Congress. He won the Puttur assembly seat on the Congress ticket and spit venom against Naidu sitting comfortably in the Congress. Soon enough he started feeling that Rajasekhara Reddy was treating him with contempt. Certain that he would not get a party nomination from the Congress again, Muddu quit as MLA in December 2008 and went back to Naidu who welcomed him with open arms.

One of the best examples of a politicians changing colours is Danam Nagendar. A Congress strongman in Asifnagar assembly constituency, he felt disturbed when he was not renominated by the Congress in the 2004 elections from the same constituency. The Congress wanted to field him from the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency but Nagendar swiftly changed colours, joined the TDP and won from Asifnagar.

However, Nagendar was dejected when he saw that the Congress had come to power and he was left out of the packet of goodies. He quit the TDP and the Asifnagar seat and recontested from the same constituency on the Congress ticket. But the electorate gave him a thumbs down this time.

The state Congress spokesperson N Tulasi Reddy who lambasts the TDP was himself in that party earlier and had served as a Rajya Sabha member too. He later joined the BJP and subsequently the Congress for which he is batting now.

Even Gangula Pratap Reddy, the Congress legislator from Alagadda in Kurnool was in the BJP. Prior to that he was in the Congress representing the same assembly seat.

Nannapaneni Rajakumari of the TDP may be a staunch supporter of Nara Chandrababu Naidu now but not long ago she was in the Congress as the party’s mahila wing chief. Before that, she was in the TDP itself. This is much like the PRP’s Parakala Prabhakar who began with the Congress, jumped on to the BJP bandwagon and is now sailing with Chiranjeevi.

It is now the turn of Ale Narendra to change gears. As a BJP leader in the state, Narendra earned the nickname ‘tiger’. He quit the BJP to form his own political outfit which he merged with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and got elected from the Medak Lok Sabha seat in the 2004 elections on that ticket. But now he is moving around with the Congress and is expected to join the party soon.

Krishnam Raju joins PRP
Film actor and former MP U V Krishnam Raju on Tuesday quit the Bharatiya Janata Party and joined Chiranjeevi’s Prajarajyam Party. Announcing his entry into PRP, the former Union minister of state for external affairs said that he had decided to strengthen Chiranjeevi’s hands to do something for the downtrodden sections of society. “I think that what I could not deliver from within the BJP could be achieved by working with PRP’s plank of social justice. I wanted to retire from politics, but Chiranjeevi’s enthusiasm and zeal changed my decision,” he said and added that he would spell the real reasons for quitting the BJP during a separate press conference at a later date.

Welcoming him, the PRP chief said that the ‘Rebel Star’s entry added more glamour to the party and that he would be entrusted with a lot of responsibilities. Incidentally, Krishnam Raju hails from Mogalturu village in West Godavari district, where the PRP chief was born. His supporters, present at the PRP office, said that he was likely to be fielded against Union minister of state for HRD Daggubati Purandeshwari. Raju was elected from the Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituency in 1998 and 1999 and served as a minister in the Vajpayee government. He started his political innings with the Congress party by contesting the Lok Sabha elections in 1991 from Narsapuram and later joined the BJP.

Announcing that the PRP would come out with its first list of candidates on Wednesday, Chiranjeevi confirmed that the party was in talks with Mana party chief K Gyaneshwar on seat adjustments but denied reports that Mana party had merged with PRP. “More details on seat adjustments will be provided by the Mana party chief at a press conference tomorrow,” he said. There was speculation all through the day on film actor Srihari and former IPS officer D T Naik also joining PRP. However, nothing concrete had materialised till late in the night.

Will Chiranjeevi be the man with the key?

2009-03-25T00:39:00.000-07:00

By M H Ahssan

Survey Shows Gap Between Cong-TDP Not That Wide

In a paradox of sorts, several Congress leaders want the Prajarajyam Party (PRP) to perform well in the polls on the apprehension that in case an anti-incumbency factor crops up, the Congress would benefit if the anti-Congress votes go to the PRP rather than the Telugu Desam Party.

“Therefore it is imperative that the political standing of the new party not plummet in the run-up to the elections, due to sharp internal contradictions. If it does, then all the anti-Congress votes would be transferred to the TDP which will be disastrous for the ruling party,” one Congress leader said.

According to the Congress leaders, if there is a hung assembly in which the PRP does well, the Congress can try and cajole Chiranjeevi to team up with them and form the government. “However, at this juncture, the PRP does not appear to be gaining in strength even after the announcement of the poll schedule. The Congress wants Chiranjeevi to become stronger as the campaign hots up,” the leaders said expressing happiness about the mega stars successful show in Hyderabad on the weekend.

So far, the surveys conducted by reputed agencies and others conducted on behalf of individual Congress leaders have placed the PRP in the third position after the Congress and TDP. As per the latest of these surveys, the support base for the PRP is between 19 per cent to 21 per cent of the votes. The vote share for the Congress was 41 per cent and for the TDP 36 per cent. If there is a five to six per cent swing from the PRP to the TDP, then the Congress is doomed, was the finding of a survey conducted by a resourceful Congress MP from a coastal district.

A statistical model prepared on the basis of the survey suggested that the anti-Congress votes formed a huge component of the PRP’s 19 to 21 per cent vote share. An expert who analysed the data said the “Kapus form the core support group of Chiranjeevi which is around 8 to 9 per cent while the remaining is the anti-Congress vote contributed by various social segments. These sections are prone to shift their loyalties the moment they realise that the PRP is no match to take on the Congress party,” the analyst told HNN.

The Congress and the TDP are locked in close contests in many constituencies and a weak PRP would mar the chances of a Congress victory. It is for this reason that the ruling party wants the PRP to gain in strength in the coming days. According to sources, the Congress had discretely told various social groups to turn out in large numbers for the PRP meeting at the Parade Grounds on March 21 and turn it into a success. Thus from the surveys point of view, Chiranjeevi appears to hold the key as to who will form the next government in the State.