Rebellion against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: The allocation of portfolios to the newly-sworn-in ministers triggered a major rebellion against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy around midnight barely hours after he constituted his Council of Ministers.

It is turning out to be a Reddy versus backward classes battle which may plunge the week-old new government into a deep crisis even as two ministers have already sent in their resignations to the Chief Minister.

The ministers who have been left seething after the allocation of portfolios are now getting ready for a showdown with the Chief Minister at the first formal meeting of the new Cabinet.

“It (Cabinet) is not your private limited company. Do you want the Congress party to survive in Andhra Pradesh or get reduced to its 1994 status (when it won only 27 seats and could not even become the main opposition party),” a senior minister reportedly asked the Chief Minister, expressing serious displeasure over the allocation of portfolios.

The main grouse was that all the plum portfolios (revenue-earning) were allocated to ministers belonging to the Reddy community while those from the backward classes were given insignificant (non-revenue generating) portfolios.

While Reddys got as many as 14 berths in the new Cabinet, the BCs were given just about 10. When it came to allocation of portfolios, prime ones like Finance, agriculture, major irrigation, health, municipal administration and panchayat raj were given to Reddys much to the chagrin of the BC ministers.

Leading the list of dissenters were Botsa Satyanarayana, Dharmana Prasada Rao, Vatti Vasantha Kumar, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Danam Nagender who got ready to quit their posts. Of course, a Reddy minister, Komatireddi Venkat Reddy, too has joined hands with the BC ministers, sulking over the allocation of Infrastructure and Investments portfolio.

Vatti Vasantha Kumar, who has been shifted from Rural Development to Tourism Department in the new government, was the first to send in his resignation to the Chief Minister minutes after the portfolios were allocated late in the night. In fact, Vatti also resigned from his MLA post as well.

Following in Vatti’s steps, Komatireddi Venkat Reddy too has forwarded his resignation to Kiran Kumar Reddy. Komatireddi has been given the Infrastructure and Investments Department in the new government. He was minister for Information Technology and Communications Department in the previous government.

Sensing trouble, a worried Chief Minister sent his new Finance Minister Aanam Ramanarayana Reddy to placate Vatti, at whose residence more than 10 ministers had gathered for a strategic meeting around midnight. However, Vatti remained firm on his resignation.

The Chief Minister reportedly conveyed through Aanam that the portfolios issue could be discussed at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday but the sulking ministers were in no mood to relent.

The Chief Minister’s reported contention that some of the senior ministers were given “less important” portfolios only because they were facing allegations of corruption.

“In that case why were such persons taken into the Cabinet in the first place,” a disgruntled minister fumed.

The Chief Minister’s emissary did not have an answer for this and had to make a hasty retreat, informed sources said.

Was Jagan caught between his uncles?

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who quit the Congress party as well as his Lok Sabha seat, was in fact caught between his two uncles – one from his late father’s side and the other from his mother’s. The alleged rift within the family was threatening to spill onto the streets when Jagan realised he had to find a quick escape route to safeguard the “family prestige.” As his uncle (father’s younger brother) Y S Vivekananda Reddy left for New Delhi reportedly to seek a berth in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government, Jagan seized the opportunity to mount an attack on the Congress high command and cry foul. He saw a “conspiracy being hatched to vertically split the family.” “Is it fair to lure my uncle Y S Vivekanada Reddy to Delhi, thereby paving way for fissures in my family,” he angrily questioned AICC president Sonia Gandhi in an open letter. The fact, however, was something else. For a few months now, Jagan was reportedly not on good terms with Vivekananda. On his part Vivekananda, a Member of the Legislative Council, too was unhappy with Jagan’s ways. “Vivekananda apparently did not like the way in which Jagan was totally being influenced by his other uncle Y V Subba Reddy (Rajasekhara Reddy’s co-brother). Subba Reddy has become Jagan’s karta, karma, kriya (be all and do all) much to Viveka’s discomfiture,” a source close to Jagan’s family said. Vivekananda is known to be a “humble, mild-mannered” man and is highly revered across Kadapa. In fact, he is held in high esteem than his elder brother (late) Rajasekhara Reddy in their hometown Pulivendula from where Vivekananda was elected to the state Assembly twice. “Jagan’s fear is that he stands no chance against his uncle any day in their home turf Pulivendula or Kadapa. Such is the stature of Vivekananda,” the source noted. On the other hand, Subba Reddy was never in public life and looked after his own business as well as YSR’s. “Subba Reddy is now Jagan’s key strategist. It is he who is driving the rebel leader,” the source pointed out. The fissures within the family were thus obvious, making Vivekananda to tread a different path.

CONGRESS BEATS Y S JAGAN, HANDS DOWN

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: The Congress has won, la affaire Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, and proved yet again that the organization is mightier than an individual.

The man who often cried that he was “running out of patience” had to ultimately give up and bow himself out in the face-off with the party.

The now former member of Lok Sabha from Kadapa provoked the Congress high command so much so that he wanted it to act against him so that he could go to the people and claim that “I have been punished without committing any sin.”

He waited and waited in vain, often letting it know that he was “running out of patience” as the Congress appeared in no mood to take any step that would “make him a hero.”

As the grand old party played its game with the distinction that it is famous for, Jagan was left “suffering in humiliation.”

More than 14 months have elapsed but the Congress never displayed any urgency to let Jagan realize his dream of becoming Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, even as the state saw the ascendancy of two Chief Ministers in the aftermath of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s tragic death in September 2009.

Jagan always thought the Chief Minister’s chair rightfully belonged to him and never shied away from claiming so. Even after the Congress denied him the opportunity, he went to the people and vowed that he would one day become the Chief Minister “come what may.”

A year-long wait made the Chief Minister’s chair look like sour grapes for the industrialist-turned-politician who primarily had more business interests to protect than any other agenda.

Majority of the MLAs who initially supported Jagan’s candidature for the Chief Minister’s post gradually backed out, in sync with the party high command’s mind, but the 20-month-old politician remained adamant.

He then started adopting defiant means to reach his goal. Every move of his, like going on the Odarpu Yatra and targeting the Congress government in the state through his own media, made his detractors in the party cry hoarse about Jagan’s belligerence.

The Congress never really bothered to take note of how Jagan became a multi-billionaire in no time despite having enough evidence to nail him.

The high command continued to give him a long rope all along. But when Sonia Gandhi herself, a Goddess to all Congressmen, was vehemently targeted along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, the high command probably wanted to crack the whip.

Still, it went soft on Jagan and sought to extend an olive branch in an other form – by offering a Cabinet berth to his uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.

This was a “conspiracy against my family and myself” which Jagan could not stand. He let the Congress have the last laugh and quietly sent in his resignation to Sonia Gandhi, not directly but in the form of an “open letter.”

Jagan will now seek the blessings of his late father at his grave and try to re-invent himself as an “independent” political leader.

The "REBEL" in a fix

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: He may have been branded a "rebel" but 36-year-old Member of Parliament from Kadapa, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, has now actually been reduced to a man suffering in silence in more ways than one.

While cervical spondilitis is Jagan's physical tormentor, the Congress politics has become a biggest mental block for him.

Enduring the physical pain might seem trivial, compared to the mental agony of having to remain indecisive on his future political course.

His uncle and Member of Legislative Council, Y S Vivekananda Reddy, has now rubbed salt into Jagan’s injury by offering to “patch up” the strained relationship between his nephew and the Congress high command by “expressing our regret over the episodes telecast on Sakshi television channel.”

Vivekananda’s “impulsive action” has only left Jagan more embarrassed even as his camp tried to do some damage control by announcing that their leader had done nothing wrong that warranted any “explanation” to the high command. By disowning Vivekananda’s statement, his camp desperately sought to send a message that Jagan “would never surrender” to anyone.

Now, Jagan will have to spend time at least till Wednesday waiting agonizingly to make up his mind on whether or not to continue in the Congress party, what with the constitution of the state Council of Ministers likely to happen only that day.

Jagan is anxiously awaiting the formation of the state Cabinet to assess his standing in the scheme of things in the Congress and chalk out his future path, his campers say.

Most of the 20-odd MLAs, who continue to swear by Jagan, are now busy camping in New Delhi lobbying intensely for ministerial posts. One of his close followers and former minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose claimed he would not join Kiran Kumar Reddy’s Cabinet after it became clear that he would face the axe for having defied the party high command, along with another former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, on the Odarpu Yatra issue.

The Congress high command is also keeping Jagan on tenterhooks by being indecisive on the action, if any, it intends to take against him for targeting the party and its leadership through his media.

The nearly two-month long "Odarpu Yatra" he undertook in Prakasam and Nellore districts from September 3 had in fact taken a heavy toll on this indutrialist-turned-politician's body that he has now been advised "complete bed rest" at least for two months.

“He may resume his yatra subsequently but not in the fashion he did in the last leg covering thousands of kilometres for hours on end in the two districts. Such strenuous touring can prove dangerous for him given his current condition,” a senior doctor attending on him revealed.

This has become a worrying factor for the belligerent MP who obviously can’t go back on the promise of continuing his yatra from January next to console families whose members either died of shock or allegedly committed suicide following the death of Jagan’s father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

Putting off or delaying the yatra inordinately in view of his bad health will adversely affect Jagan’s ambitious political plans since he has set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s chair alone.

Given these factors, Jagan is unable to go ahead with his plans or maintain status quo and clearly looks caught in a Catch-22 situation.

YSR's pet scheme spells doom for many in AP

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: The dream of owning a house turned into a curse for K Ramesh (30), a daily wage earner of Venkatadripet village in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh.

He borrowed Rs 10,000 from a micro-finance institution (MFI) and could only complete the foundation work of the house. But, as pressure mounted from the lender for repayment of the loan, a harassed Ramesh hung himself to death last week. “Clearing the weekly installments has become too much to bear for Ramesh because of the exorbitant interest rate of over 48 per cent,” his relatives say.

Actually, Ramesh obtained the loan in the name of purchasing a buffalo but instead used the money for taking up the construction of his dream house. Now, he left only a debt burden of over Rs 10,000 on his 25-year-old wife, excluding the interest component.

This was one of the sad sagas of the ongoing MFI atrocities in Andhra Pradesh.

Ramesh might have ended his life unable to overcome the pressures of borrowing (money) but there are many such people across the state still suffering the effects of a micro loan.

The much-hyped and ambitious Indiramma housing, YS Rajasekhara Reddy's pet scheme, under which the Congress government promised a permanent roof over every poor family’s head is indeed coming to the haunt the hapless “beneficiaries” as it has literally pushed them into a debt trap.

“The vulnerability created by government policies and schemes like Indiramma housing have helped the unscrupulous micro finance institutions to openly exploit the hapless poor, particularly in rural areas,” CPM politburo member and MP Brinda Karat pointed out.

“One of the reasons people borrowed money from MFIs was to complete the houses they were allotted under the Indiramma scheme. It has in fact become a double blow as on one hand they had to repay the loan obtained from a bank and on the other the MFIs on the same house,” project director of a District Rural Development Agency, which is now the nodal agency for the registration of MFIs.

While the unit cost of a Indiramma house has been fixed at Rs 55,000, the state government provided Rs 25,000 as subsidy and Rs 30,000 was arranged through banks as a loan. “The unit cost fixed by the government was never sufficient to complete the house because of the escalating prices of materials as well as labour. Hence, the beneficiaries were forced to borrow more money from other sources, including the MFIs,” the official noted.

Many cases of debt-ridden beneficiaries of Indiramma housing scheme are seeing the light now after the authorities started probing into the MFIs’ activities and also the sufferings of the borrowers. “We have reports from districts like Nalgonda, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool, Guntur, Chittoor, Khammam, Anantapur, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam where most of the Indiramma beneficiaries are caught in the MFI debt trap. We are assessing the cases and trying to help these people out by providing alternative credit at cheaper interest rate,” a top official of the Rural Development Department said.