Would PM have met the delegation?
So, what is the mystery behind the sudden plan to take an all party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for categorisation of the Scheduled Castes and equally baffling call off?
Different versions are doing the rounds like why would the Prime Minister agree to give an audience when he is so deep into campaigning for the State elections to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa... which could show whether how much of the demonetisation has affected the chances of the ruling party at the hustings.
Another version is that there was no way leaders of other parties would want to accompany the Chief Minister considering the political stakes involved and also after the BJP seems to have gotten closer to the categorisation issue.
Even more bizarre version is everyone knew this visit was never going to materialise anyway as the matter was in the Supreme Court but no one wanted to be seen to be disinterested!
Different view of Budget
Is the Union Budget beneficial to the State or not? While there have been strong indications from the Telangana Government that the State got a short shrift, only Union Minister from the State Bandaru Dattatreya had a different take.
Reeling out figures, he claimed that Telangana would get straight away more than ₹5,000 crore and another up to a whopping ₹20,000 crore under various schemes plus the upcoming Goods and Services Tax share and other tax shares.
But, what about the promised All India Institute of Medical Sciences, pestered hacks despite the Minister’s initial reluctance to respond.
“Everything cannot be given within a year,” he hit back!
Holding out ‘threat’!
It’s not uncommon for the politicians to hold out threats, particularly behind the curtains, against the people whom they believe are a thorn in their flesh. It’s difficult for those in power to do it publicly. However, a Telangana Minister had no hesitation in issuing a ‘threat’ to the media, particularly the print media, when he held a curtain raiser press conference a few weeks ago before a national event related to his portfolio scheduled in Hyderabad.
He did not mince words while telling the reporters that he would see to it that the newspapers concerned were discriminated against while issuing advertisements by the department, in case they failed to report the event prominently for all four days of the event.
Interestingly, most of the regional language newspapers gave prominent coverage to the event, despite the fact that the State Legislature was in session.
Home Minister not against drinking
At a function organised by police in connection with Road Safety last week, Home Minister Nayini Narasimha Reddy told a 3,000 odd gathering of youth under 20 years of age that they were free to drink alcohol, but then they should not drive vehicles after drinking.
Known for his free lip service, Mr. Reddy surprised the audience making the sound of a speeding two wheeler with the driver in a drunken state.
He warned the gathering that it could lead to accidents.
(V. Geetanath, B. Chandrasekhar, N. Rahul)
