Chandrababu Naidu embarrassed

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has landed in an embarrassing position.
The Congress has strategically pushed him into this situation by “exposing” his “dubious” deeds and also by digging into his past to “pay Chandrababu back in his own coin.”
As the TDP chief has made corruption the prime weapon of his attack on Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the ruling party too has pulled out the same weapon from its arsenal for a befitting retribution.
For now, Chandrababu has literally been caught in a defensive position as the calculated assault by the Congress is proving too good for him to handle.
A report on the alleged fraudulent practices adopted by Heritage Foods, a firm promoted by Chandrababu and his family, to “siphon off” public funds has caught the principal opposition leader in an awkward position even as he sought to drag his bete noire Rajasekhara Reddy into the Satyam Computers-Ramalinga Raju scandal.
Sakshi, the Telugu newspaper promoted by the Chief Minister’s son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, has gone to town with a report that Heritage Foods cooked up “non-existent” profits of Rs 94 lakh and also transferred prime land worth Rs 100 crore to a fictitious company for a meager Rs 2.73 crore. Also, the newspaper reported that Heritage Foods sold a 51 per cent stake at Rs 174.99 per share to one Sri Chakra Merchandising Private Limited of Tamil Nadu when in fact the latter had just Rs 32,000 in hand. This was done in an alleged attempt to cover up the losses of Heritage Foods.
The newspaper also reported, with documentary evidence, that Heritage Infra Developers Limited, a so-called subsidiary of Heritage Foods, obtained a loan of Rs 45 crore from one Sicom Limited of Mumbai but now Heritage Infra no longer exists.
Equating the “Heritage Scandal” with that of Satyam Computers, Congress MP Undavalli Arun Kumar petitioned the Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Prem Chand Gupta to institute an enquiry into the Heritage affairs.
The Heritage episode apart, the Congress has also dug out an old publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – now an ally of the TDP – wherein the “gross high-level corruption” in the then Chandrababu Naidu administration was brought out in vivid detail. The CPM published the booklet in September 2003 listing the various scandals that rocked Andhra Pradesh under Chandrababu. The CPM then alleged that as much as a staggering Rs 22,000 crore of public funds were swindled under various schemes, including the Food-for-Work, fake stamp papers scandal, World Bank-aided projects, etc.
The Youth Congress got the booklet reprinted and started distributing it to “expose” both the TDP as well as the CPM, which had now re-aligned.
So far, Chandrababu has not opened his mouth to clarify the actual position related to his Heritage businesses. The common refrain of senior TDP leaders has been that “let the government conduct a probe since they are in power.” In fact, the TDP leaders were seeking to brush aside the Heritage scandal reports saying the newspaper did not have any credibility and was known for its TDP-bashing.
Internally, however, there is said to be a lot of anxiety within the TDP over the fallout of the report as well as the circulation of the CPM booklet.

Fire, venom... they spit it all at each other.

Desaraju Surya

Chiranjeevi has been spitting fire on Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Nara Chandrababu Naidu has been spitting venom on Rajasekhara Reddy. Rajasekhara Reddy, in turn, has been attacking both Chandrababu Naidu and Chiranjeevi.
Chandrababu Naidu is deriding Chiranjeevi while the latter too is castigating the former.
Chiranjeevi completed 30 years in the Telugu film industry and became a Mega Star. Both Rajasekhara Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu too have crossed 30 in their political career. While Rajasekhara Reddy is the incumbent Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu is his immediate predecessor. Chiranjeevi is a political novice but has set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s chair.
Rajasekhara Reddy would like to retain his chair while Chandrababu is desperate to regain it.
First, Reddy and Naidu have been good friends, having begun their political journey together in the Congress party. Later, Naidu parted ways to join the Telugu Desam Party floated by his father-in-law N T Rama Rao. Both grew in the career to become tall leaders in their respective parties and both realized their dream of becoming the state Chief Minister.
Chiranjeevi has been a good friend of Naidu, so much so that he wished the latter becomes the Prime Minister of India one day and uphold the “Telugu glory.”
Reddy was also, to an extent, a friend of Chiranjeevi. Having reached the pinnacle of stardom in films, Chiranjeevi launched his own political party Praja Rajyam to realize his political ambition.
On August 17 last when he announced his intention to give a career twist and jump into the political field, Chiranjeevi promised not to badmouth his political “adversaries.” “I have no rivals,” he had pointed out and gave equal credit to both Reddy and Naidu for having done their bit to develop Andhra Pradesh.
Three months down the line, Chiranjeevi seemed to have “matured” into a politician. As soon as he began his tour of the state as part of his mass contact programme, Chiranjeevi first started criticizing the state government. Later, he started lashing out at the Chief Minister, though initially in a mild manner. Of course, it was not without provocation from the other side, as Reddy constantly lampooned Chiranjeevi.
The Mega Star that he was, Chiranjeevi walked -- rather drove -- straight into his “villain’s” den and beat him back in the same coin. Pulivendula in Kadapa district, the native of Reddy, was the venue that Chiranjeevi chose to take on his (now) “rival” head-on.
After days passed, Chiranjeevi’s wagon wheel has now traversed into Naidu’s territory. So, as is required of a ‘politician,’ Chiranjeevi started spitting venom on Chandrababu Naidu. A man (Naidu) who once was good enough for the Prime Minister’s job has now become unfit even for the Chief Minister’s chair. That’s what Chiranjeevi sought to convey to the people of Naidu’s native Chittoor district – the Kuppam constituency in particular.
Not to be outdone – the seasoned politicians that they are -- both Rajasekhara Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu too have been displaying similar ferociousness in hitting back at Chiranjeevi, a “political bachcha” (kid) in their eyes.
With Andhra Pradesh set to go to polls in April\May this year, the “political bad blood” between the three will only become thicker and their mouths will be full with more venom to spit on each other.
Tailpiece: Some others (read Nandamuri Balakrishna, etc.) are also joining this brigade soon, while some others already in (read K Chandrasekhar Rao, B V Raghavulu, etc.) will add shrill to the vitriolic campaign to make it an ear-full for people of the state.

INDIVIDUAL vs INSTITUTION

This was an email forwarded to me by my dear friend and brother Ramesh Masthipuram. It was one of the most beautiful and absolutely inspiring mails that I have ever received. The protagonist in the narrative below, embodied the truly indomitable human spirit and also emphasised that it's nothing but the 'will' that makes anybody or anything stronger. Kudos to that spirit. Cheer up and keep it up.
Yes, it is the "institution" that is always supreme rather than the "individual."
The Satyam-Ramalinga Raju saga might well prove this right, yet again.

JUST ANOTHER DIMENSION TO LOOK AT LIFE... MAKES A HUGE IMPACT. TRUTHFULNESS APART, JUST READ ON...

I (SATYAM employee) am deputed at a client location and came across a very interesting conversation in the cafeteria yesterday. One of my co-workers, also deputed with the same client through some lesser-known two-room company, mustered guts to ask me sarcastically in front of the entire team, "So, Satyam is gone! What are you guys planning to do now?" In normal circumstances, I have a habit of not replying to loose talk, but in front of the entire team....I thought I need to fix this guy's thought process. I asked him -- as my military training has imbibed in me the habit of fighting till the last breath -- "Who says Satyam is gone when I am very much alive here and committed to create value on behalf of my company?"
He shot back, "Hello Mr., your chairman has resigned, you guys are facing financial turbulence and you still have a face to say that Satyam is not gone!" At this juncture, I thought of replying to this guy in his own language. I asked him, "Tell me, what will you do and where will you go if our country India was not there?" He was not prepared for this level of thought and asked back, "What a stupid question! How can India be gone, it is a country?"
I asked him back, "Country! What makes a country? Land? Economy? Our Prime Minister? Our President? Our Geography? Or the PEOPLE? If our PM resigns, will you say India is gone? If our economy faces a slowdown, will you say India is gone? But yes, if the people of a country are lost for any reason, we may say that country has no meaning. Who cares of vast land of Antarctica today which has just one permanent resident, Father Georgy? Which country does it belong to? Why does it not have any government? Why does it not have any economy? Or, how many countries were there when humans used to hunt for food in pre-historic times? Countries, Wealth, Infrastructure and booming economies are nothing but creations of efforts of PEOPLE, and they do not have any existance on their own."
And the final blow was, "When one man can create SATYAM as an organization of 53,000 people, why cannot 53,000 committed people rebuild one SATYAM?"

HIGHLY INSPIRING, ISN'T IT?

Annoyed YSR pulls up top cop

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is annoyed, first with the state police top brass and next with some of his own staff. For, their "inaction" has caused much embarrassment to his government and also let the opposition parties attack him personally in the Satyam Computers scandal. With news doing rounds in New Delhi that the top cops in the state were going rather slow on the Satyam scandal and also with opposition parties in the state mounting criticism that he was trying to shield Satyam ex-chief B Ramalinga Raju, the Chief Minister reportedly gave an earful to the state Director General of Police and other top brass of the police. Besides, the Chief Minister also reportedly pulled up his own principal secretary Jannat Hussain for not immediately translating his words into action on the case against Ramalinga Raju, highly-placed official sources said. The Chief Minister has now directed the DGP to go ahead with the case "in full steam" and nail the accused. "A two-day delay in the state police swinging into action in the case had done a lot of damage to the state and caught the Chief Minister in a defensive position. Later, the Chief Minister was forced to do a lot of answering on the issue which was otherwise avoidable," the sources pointed out. It was on January 7 that Ramalinga Raju admitted to fraud in Satyam Computers and the same afternoon the Chief Minister, who was camping in New Delhi, announced that the state Crime Investigation Department would launch a probe into the case. However, a clear two days have elapsed till the CID was actually asked to take up the investigation into the case. This, official sources said, was a lapse on part of the Chief Minister's principal secretary in charge of law and order affairs. By the time, there were too many adverse reports in the media that the state government was going slow on the probe as the Chief Minister and his son Jagan Mohan Reddy had "vested interests" in Satyam as well as its sister concern Maytas. The opposition too lost no time in launching a vitriolic attack against the Chief Minister as well as the government on the Satyam issue, leaving Rajasekhara Reddy embarrassed. Upon his return from Chennai on January 9, the Chief Minister gave just "half-an-hour" to the DGP to "go and arrest" Ramalinga Raju. Again, the police took more than three hours to execute the Chief Minister's Order. Besides, the Chief Minister was reportedly not properly briefed about the arrest and the basis for it. This made him announce that Raju and his brother were arrested based on Ramalinga's letter to the Satyam Board of Directors. This too left the Chief Minister furious as the fact was different. The entire issue also exposed yet again the growing "ego clashes and groupism" and also the lack of co-ordination among the top ranks of state police. This was said to be one reason why the state police additional DGP and official spokesman A K Khan remained in communicado since the arrest of Raju brothers and no authentic information was communicated to the media on the case. "This led to a lot of speculation in the media on the whole issue related to the police and battered the image of the state. This angered the Chief Minister forcing him to pull up the DGP," a top-ranking official in the Chief Minister's Office said on condition of anonymity.

Logical questions, tricky answers!

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: "Satyam" (truth) lies clearly buried in the Ramalinga Raju saga.
Was Ramalinga Raju, along with his brother Rama Raju, "picked up" by the police or did the brothers "give themselves up?" What formed the basis for their "arrest?" Why were the Rajus "hidden" from the media and why was there a two-day delay in CID taking up the Satyam Computers financial scandal case for investigation? Was there any attempt to bail out the Rajus? While there are contradicting answers for some of these questions, there are no answers for some other.
The police said something about Ramalinga Raju's "arrest" while state Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy revealed something else. There is also no coherence between what the police claimed and what the Chief Minister spoke on what basis has Raju indeed been arrested.
Moreover, the two-day delay in the Crime Investigation Department swinging into action has not only invited sharp criticism from opposition parties but has also left enough room for doubt over the actual motive.
The Chief Minister said today that he was informed by the state Director General of Police S S P Yadav around 9 pm on Friday that a team of CID sleuths has been dispatched to "pick up" Ramalinga Raju from his house.
But, events on Friday night told a different story. Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju drove in a convoy of luxury cars to the State Police Headquarters to submit themselves before the DGP. Police immediately claimed that the Raju brothers were "arrested."
Around 1 am that night, CID Inspector General (Economic Offences Wing) V S K Kaumudi told a frenzied media group – his statement was, of course, not clearly audible – that the ex-bosses of Satyam Computers were arrested when they came to the Police Headquarters.
Kaumudi also explained that the arrest was based on a complaint lodged by a Satyam investor under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
But the Chief Minister announced today that it was a suo moto action on part of the police based on the "confessional letter" written by Ramalinga Raju to the Satyam Computers Board.
Interestingly, around 9.15 pm on Friday, the so-called police spokesman A K Khan, who is of the rank of Additional DGP, denied any case has been registered against the Rajus and the CID was "merely enquiring" into the Satyam affair. Subsequently, he remained in communicado while other top police brass refused to take any calls. "Contact the police spokesman," was their constant refrain.
It was on January 7 that Ramalinga Raju came out with disclosure of a mind-boggling Rs 7800 crore financial bungling in Satyam Computers. The same afternoon, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, camping in New Delhi, announced that the CID would take up investigation into the Satyam case.
But the CID was formally asked to take up the case only on January 9, a clear two days after the scandal saw the light.
Things, however, moved at a brisk pace on Friday even as the Chief Minister camped in Chennai.
The state DGP held a top-level meeting with the CID Additional DGP A Sivanarayana and IG (EOW) V S K Kaumudi and chalked out the course of action. Immediately thereafter the DGP briefed the state Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy about the police plan and subsequently the matter was conveyed to the Chief Minister who returned in the evening. And, around 9.30 pm the Rajus were "arrested." The Chief Minister, however, flatly denied there was any "delay" in launching police action against the tainted Rajus. CID officials, on their part, maintained that they swung into action as soon as they got necessary "directions" from the government.
Of course, the directions came two days late as was obvious.
The police took all pains to shield Ramalinga Raju from the prying media.
"Why was Raju hidden from the media," the Chief Minister was asked.
As is his wont, Rajasekhara Reddy did not care to answer this query.

Ramalinga Raju's game plan

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: It was a smart move to dodge the long arm of the law on part of the disgraced Satyam Computers' ex-chief B Ramalinga Raju to "submit himself" before the Crime Investigation Department officials here. In the process, however, he committed yet another grave offence by evading the SEBI authorities, legal experts point out. The SEBI summoned Ramalinga Raju to appear in person before its investigating officials and present the records related to the Satyam scandal. By sending his lawyer on behalf to the SEBI investigating team, Ramalinga Raju violated provisions of the SEBI Act, 1992, by which he has now become liable for a one-year jail term and a fine of Rs one crore, legal sources said. "His lawyer can appear only before the Appellate Tribunal and not the investigating authorities," they added. Had he appeared before the SEBI investigating team, Raju would have escaped arrest as the SEBI Act has no provision for arrest of a person. But, Raju chose to get "arrested" by the police and get charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code in what is being described by legal luminaries as a "legal match-fixing." "Now that he has been arrested and charged under the Indian Penal Code, Raju has secured immunity for himself from possible extradition to the United States where too he is facing criminal charges. Similarly, under what is known as 'double jeopardy' he can escape prosecution by any other agency as law bars prosecution of an accused twice for a same crime," leading lawyer Bhuvanagiri Chandrasekhar pointed out. "By surrendering before the police, Ramalinga Raju has purchased the liberty from facing billion dollar questions, that were to be answered, from various other quarters. In a way the government has saved him from the SEBI and also from extradition to the US," Chandrasekhar added. However, Ramalinga Raju could be convicted and awarded a life-term in jail under Section 409 of IPC. This could be a distant possibility as charges under the Section are tried by a magistrate who can award a jail term of only three years. "As per Section 409 of Criminal Procedure Code, a sessions court may suo moto withdraw the case from a magistrate court and try and punish an accused under 409 IPC and award a life-term. But such things have seldom happened so far," Chandrasekhar noted.

GREETINGS & BEST WISHES

My heartfelt GREETINGS & BEST WISHES to all my blog readers and my dear friends for a HAPPY, PEACEFUL, PROSPEROUS & EVENTFUL NEW YEAR -- 2009.

with lots of love,

DESARAJU SURYA.