I got chance to be PM twice but refused: TDP chief

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday claimed he had twice got the opportunity to become Prime Minister but turned them down. "I got the opportunity to become Prime Minister of the country on two occasions (in the 1990s) but I refused. My focus is solely on Andhra Pradesh though we play an effective role at the national level," Naidu told reporters in Hyderabad. The former Chief...

Telangana temples neglected: TRS chief

Karimnagar: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao accused the government of neglecting Telangana temples. Speaking to mediapersons in Karimnagar on Monday after offering prayers at the Rajarajeshwara Swamy temple, he demanded the government to acquire 100 acres for the development of Vemulawada temple town. Stating that Rajarajeshwara Swamy temple has a historical background, the TRS supremo said that he prayed the presiding deity to help create separate Telangana...

Andhra: 13 IAS officers transferred

Hyderabad: One of the senior-most Indian Administrative Service officers in Andhra Pradesh, M Chaya Ratan, was on Tuesday appointed Special Chief Secretary (Home) in a bureaucratic reshuffle involving over a dozen officers. In all 13 IAS officers, including two District Collectors, were transferred this evening, official sources said. Chaya Ratan, who belongs to the 1977 batch, takes the place of BP Acharya, who was arrested last month by the CBI...

Deadlock continues in Andhra assembly

Hyderabad: In a spillover from the previous week, the Andhra Pradesh assembly remained paralysed on Tuesday with the Opposition parties insisting on a debate on the liquor syndicate and Telangana issues. Speaker N. Manohar had to adjourn the house for the day as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other opposition parties stalled the proceedings. As soon as the house met after a three-day break, TDP...

Telangana stir may turn violent: Cong MP

Hyderabad: A prominent Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region has warned that the feeling of betrayal and hurt among people there may give a violent turn to the movement for statehood and cautioned his party against waiting till the next elections. Madhu Goud Yaskhi, 51, wants the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi to take cognisance of the situation. "They should take into account the actual...

AP liquor racket: Cong ministers being probed

Hyderabad: Top Congress leaders and government officials in Andhra Pradesh are being probed by the police in connection with the liquor racket in the state. According to sources, some top leaders of the ruling Congress may be involved in the racket. Andhra Pradesh Excise Minister M Venkata Ramana, four MLAs and several excise officials have already been named in case for receiving bribes. Sources have further said that state Congress...

12 pc quota for STs in Telangana state: KCR

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has promised 12 per cent reservation to Lambadas and other Scheduled Tribes in education and employment, and upgradation of all Tandas as gram panchayats if a separate Telangana state is formed.Speaking at a meeting organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of Sevalal Maharaj, Lambadas spiritual guru, at Telangana Bhavan here on Saturday, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao attacked all political parties in his inimitable style...

Andhra presents Rs 1.45 lakh crore budget

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy on Friday presented a tax-free, revenue-surplus budget for 2012-13 with an overall expenditure of over Rs 1.45 lakh crore. He told the assembly during his budget speech that the overall expenditure during 2012-13 would be Rs 145,854 lakh crore, comprising Rs 91,824 crore under non-plan and Rs 54,030 crore under plan heads. Presenting his second budget, Ramnarayan Reddy said the fiscal deficit...

Bypolls to 7 seats relief for Andhra Cong

Hyderabad: The announcement of the schedule for by-elections to seven assembly seats has come as a relief for Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress as it will now not be facing polls in 24 constituencies in one go as being demanded by the YSR Congress party. With the assembly speaker yet to take a decision on the disqualification of 17 Congress rebels, the Election Commission decided to go ahead with the polls...

Bypolls lead to uncertainty over Andhra budget

Hyderabad: With the Election Commission announcing the schedule for by-elections to seven Andhra Pradesh assembly seats, the state government is consulting legal experts on whether it can go ahead with the presentation of the state budget later on Friday. Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy is scheduled to present the budget for 2012-13 in the state assembly on Friday afternoon. However, the announcement of the poll schedule on Thursday night has...

AP: HC rejects plea for probe into Naidu assets

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition by YSR Congress president Y.S. Vijayamma seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged disproportionate assets of former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The division bench of Justice G. Rohini and Justice Ashutosh Mohunta ruled that the public interest petition of the widow of the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was not maintainable. The division...

Protests mark Valentine's Day in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Protests by Hindu groups and a campaign to educate the youth by some Muslim organisations marked Valentine's Day in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, as many joined the celebration of love. Activists of various right-wing outfits took out rallies, chased and warned lovers at parks and public places abuzz with enthusiastic couples. Wearing saffron-colour bands on their foreheads and wielding canes, activists claiming to be members of the Bajrang Dal,...

Rebel Cong MLAs in touch with me: AP CM

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Tuesday some of the Congress rebel MLAs owing allegiance to YSR Congress party were "in touch" with him even as he maintained that their disqualification issue was under the Assembly Speaker's purview. "Yes," was his immediate response, when reporters asked the Chief Minister about claims that some of the rebel MLAs, currently facing disqualification proceedings for voting against the...

Botcha takes on Babu to outwit Kiran Reddy

HYDERABAD: Even before the chief minister, or for that matter any senior Congress leader, reacted to the comments made by Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu over the address of the Governor to the joint session of AP legislature on Monday, it was PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana who trained guns at Naidu and sought to take the wind out of his sails on the issues of corruption and liquor scam. Satyanarayana...

Jagan MLAs want all bypolls held together

Hyderabad: All the 16 Congress and one PRP MLA, who are in YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's camp, urged the Election Commission to hold the by-elections for the seven seats that had already fallen vacant and those for their own constituencies together. In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (EC), they alleged that though the Speaker had not declared them as disqualified though the proceedings were completed, under pressure from...