Call it coincidence or luck, leaders who have been referred to as Anna (elder brother) by their admirers have made it to the post of Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh in the past and the list includes NTR and Rajanna (YSR). Banking on this sentiment, a senior YSR Congress leader hoped that YSRC chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, popularly referred to as Jagan anna will make it to the coveted post. Unwittingly, Mr Jagan's sister Y. S. Sharmila referred to TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu as ' Chandranna frequently. Now that Chandranna has become the Chief Minister, the YSRC leaders here feel that their Jagananna too will follow suit sooner or later.
Was it ‘job’ or jabu?
The master of wit and sarcasm in YSRC senior leader Kothapalli Subbarayudu came out at a party meeting here recently. Mr. Subbarayudu, a seasoned leader with his roots in the TDP, presented his own take on the election-eve vote-catching phrase of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu— job kaavalante, Babu kavali (If you want a job, you need Chandrababu to comeback to power). The former Minister wittily said that Mr. Chanrdababu was right in his own way. “Job” in his parlance is only jabu (letter in Telugu), but not employment. Mr. Naidu literally lived up to what he said if the jabulu (notices) being received by farmers from banks for non-payment of dues in the face of the Chief Minister’s failure to keep his promise of loan waiver were any indication. It is only the people who misunderstood the phrase jabu as job and voted him to power The people, he said, are now paying heavily for their `folly’.
One garland, two Ministers!
Ever since the new government has taken over, a slew of ground breaking ceremonies are being performed in the State.
On Saturday, Social Welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu laid the foundation stone for a drinking water project at Swarnabharathi Nagar in Guntur. Just when the programme was about to start, someone informed in whispers to the organisers that another Minister, Prathipati Pulla Rao, was also expected to join soon.
The leaders who had made arrangements to felicitate Mr. Kishore with a huge garland were caught in a fix. Some quick thinking by local Telugu Desam Party leader V. Harshavardhan saved the day.
He got both the Ministers stand and heaved the ` gajamala ,’ on their shoulders. Both the Ministers looked pleased much to the relief of the local leaders.
(With inputs from S. Murali in Ongole, G. Nagaraja in Eluru, P. Samuel Jonathan in Guntur)
