Tollywood Celebrities !!

Hyderabad, May 26: Andhra Pradesh continues to reel under severe heat wave conditions with temperatures touching record level like never before. On Sunday, 284 deaths were reported from various parts of the State. The death toll is as follows: Visakhapatnam 28, Warangal 23, Prakasham 26, Karimnagar 19, Nalgonda 26, Vizianagaram 22, East Godavari 20, Krrishna 20, Srikakulam 11, Adilabad 9, Guntur 15, West Godavri 7, Kurnool 6, Khammam 9, Nizamabad 9, Medak 4, Nellore 7, Ranga Reddy 2, Mahabubnagar 6, Chittoor 5, Hyderabad, Kadapa and Anantapur one each.  The toll is officially put at 486 since April this year.

The situation worsened especially in the past four days with temperatures crossing 45 degrees celsius at several places in the State. Palvancha and Kothagudem towns in the coal belt region of Khammam district recorded maximum temperatures of 49 and 48 degrees celsius repectively on Saturday while Rentachintala in Guntur district recorded 47.3 degrees celsius. It was 47 degrees in Vijayawada, Bapatla and Machilipatnam.

The Met.department has forecast that heat wave conditions would continue over coastal Andhra and parts of Telangana over next 48 hours. The Health authorities issued an advisory yesterday asking people not to venture out between 10.30 am and 4 pm to avoid sun stroke.

Meanwhile, deaths due to sun stroke are reported from several areas every day. A note issued by the State Disaster Management Department has put the number of deaths due to sun stroke at 274 since April this year.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties demanded that the government declare heat wave conditions as a natural calamity and pay ex gratia to those who died due to sun stroke.

Heroine Sana Khan, who played the lead role in 'Kathi' 'Gaganam' and 'Mr. Nokia' is absconding after police charged her with kidnapping case of a 15-year-old girl from Mumbai.

According to Muimbai police, the victim studying in ninth standard had befriended Naved on social networking site Facebook in November last year. Later they started meeting. After a few months, Naved proposed marriage to her but the girl refused. However, Naved kept pursuing her when she stopped meeting him and discontinued her FB account. 

angered by her act, Naved along with Sana and friends attempted to drag the girl into Sana's car while she was returning home in Sanpada. Fortunaltey, the girl managed to free herself and ran towards her house.Sana, Naved and his friends even went to victim's home and threatend the family of dire sequences. The girl's mother subsequently approached police and lodged a complaint.

Based on the complaint, Navi Mumbai police have already arrested four persons --Sana's cousin Naved Khan (22) and his three friends Kshitij Dubey (22) and Vismit Ambre (23) and a 17-year-old boy minor -- in the case. 

Hunt is on to trace the 25-year-old actress. Sana Khan is playing the female lead in Salman Khan starrer Mental. As Sana has gone into hiding, Mental's shooting schedule has reportedly got disrupted.

Any person will be dreaming of being a part of Power Star Pawan Kalyan role. Rcently hot and sexy anchor Anasuya was offered to do a special song in Pawan-Trivikram film.

The news created a sensation as earlier filmmakers scouted other renowned stars. However Anasuya shocked the filmmakers by rejecting the offer. She said ‘Though I was approached for item number in Pawan Kalyan film, unfortunately I am not able to do it. I am not interested in starting my film career with item numbers. First, I want to prove my acting prowess and then try for other things. Currently, I am also quite busy with TV shows. In fact, Gunasekhar Garu also approached me to play a key role in ‘Rudramadevi’ but he wanted me to shed 10 kgs of weight for which I said no. I do not have any regrets for missing all these chances,'.

Anasuya is currently killing people with her small screen programs like ‘Jabardasth’ and ‘Bindaas’ along with compering audio releases and functions.

Se part
 Indore, May 18: The district district court sentenced a 45-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for putting “chastity lock” on his wife's genital area.

Special additional sessions judge A K Singh found Sohan Lal Chouhan guilty under sections 326 (causing grievous hurt) and 498 A (subjecting married woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on him.

Meanwhile, public prosecutor Jyoti Tomar said Chouhan was arrested in July 2012. Out of the 14 witnesses presented before the court, three — including the couple's son and daughter — had turned hostile.

"However, the son admitted Chouhan had not allowed him to meet his mother in the last four years," Tomar said. "Besides, the statements of the doctor who had removed the “lock”, the policeman who had recovered the key from Chouhan and an independent witness helped in nailing Chouhan," he added.

Chouhan's cruelty had come to light after his wife tried to commit suicide by consuming poison. While trying to insert a tube to extract the poison, hospital doctors were stunned to see the genitals “locked”. She then revealed her husband had done this by performing a crude surgery on her four years ago. In a statement, she said that her husband suspected her of having an extramarital affair.

The woman was married to Chouhan when she was 16 years old. The cruelty came into limelight after she consumed pesticide after Chouhan tried to rape their elder daughter.

songwriter Beyonce Knowles is reportedly pregnant with her second child with rapper husband Jay-Z.

A week back, the pop star, who is already a mother to a 15-month-old, wore a high-waist Givenchy gown that covered her belly to the Met Ball in New York, reports thesun.co.uk. 

If sources are to be believed, Knowles' pregnancy was the talk of the glamorous fashion event.

The rumour spread like wildfire when the 31-year-old pulled out of her Mrs. Carter world tour in Antwerp, Belgium because of dehydration and exhaustion

New Delhi, May 16: A Delhi court Thursday sent, to five days police custody, India fast bowler Sreesanth as well as his Rajasthan Royals colleagues Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, all arrested for spot fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Besides the three players, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma also sent to police custody the 11 bookies, arrested by special cell of Delhi Police from Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in connection with spot fixing, which includes bowling no-balls at pre-determined times.

Police had sought seven days police remand of the 14, contending saying they have collected total 55 mobile phones and laptops and they have to recover hawala money.

Chicago, May 15:Four Indian Americans are among 89 people charged with healthcare fraud running into about $233 million in false billing after a nationwide strike in eight cities, according to federal authorities.

All the Indian Americans charged are from the Chicago area.

Ankur Roy, Akash Patel, and Dipen Desai, have been charged with six counts of health care fraud each in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury last Wednesday and unsealed Tuesday.

The three, who owned and operated Selectcare Health Inc, which provided outpatient physical and respiratory therapy in Park Ridge and Skokie, were charged with submitting more than $4 million in false billings to Medicare between March and July 2011.

Roy, 36, of Miami was arrested Tuesday in south Florida, while Patel, 33, of Morton Grove, and Desai, 33, of Chicago, will be ordered to appear for arraignment on a later date in US District Court in Chicago.

According to the indictment, the three allegedly submitted $4,009,094 in false billings for services that were purportedly provided between April 2010 and April 2011, resulting in payments totaling approximately $2,214,424 from Medicare and $320,881 from Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of $2,535,305 in alleged fraud proceeds, including $446,974 in funds withdrawn by cashiers' cheques that were seized by the FBI in July 2012.

In a second case Dr. Nalini Ahluwalia, 58, was charged with one count of violating the anti-kickback law for allegedly receiving $1,000 in exchange for referring two patients to a home health care agency in Aug 2012.

The charges demonstrate that "we will not tolerate medical professionals and providers who abuse our healthcare system," said Gary S. Shapiro, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Producers making films with Anjali are getting worried as the police are preparing to take her to Chennai for production in the court on May 24.

It may be recalled that Anjali’s aunt Bharati Devi has filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madras high court complaining that she was missing, when she actually went into hiding. Acting on the petition, the court directed the Chennai police to produce Anjali. 

However after coming out of her hiding, Anjali told the police that she would herself attend the court. As he did not, the court expressed anger at the police for failing to produce the actress. 

The court directed the police to produce her before May 24. Now if the police once again fail to produce her, they might even be punished by the court. In this situation, the Chennai police reportedly sought the help of the Hyderabad police to produce her. Now if Anjali does not appear before the court, she would also be charged of contempt. As such, she has to inevitably appear before the court. In the meantime, Tamil producer Kalanjiyam filed two cases against Anjali. One is that she has not attended his shooting as agreed. The other is a defamation case for her having said that he and her aunt Bharati Devi were torturing her and using her as ATM for their luxuries. Another person claiming to be a fan of Kalanjiyam filed another defamation case in the Salem court of Tamil Nadu. Producers who booked her after she became a hit with the Telugu audience after ‘Sitamma Vaakitlo’ are worried that these cases might delay their projects.

Hyderabad, May 15: TRS senior leader and Medak district president M Raghunandan Rao raised a bogey of revolt against the party chief K Chandrasekhara Rao after he was suspended from the party after midnight on Tuesday.

Charging KCR of betraying the people of Telangana, he said he would go before the people and explain how KCR was betraying the cause of Telangana. He also said he knew all the particulars about where from funds and cheques were coming and how they were being utilized and threatened to divulge all these details.

Talking to the media here on Wednesday, Raghunandan Rao made serious allegations against KCR and Harish Rao, nephew of KCR and MLA from the district.

He said he knew how Congress leader KVP Ramachandra Rao gave suitcase loads of money to KCR in the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi when Dr. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister.

He said he also knew all the details about the TRS leaders meeting industrialists in Park Hotel and how much money they had collected. He even alleged that Kadiyam Srihari who left the TDP was being admitted to the party only for money. He questioned KCR if he did not remeber the betrayal of Kadiyam to the cause of Telangana when he was the minister. He said KCR and other TRS leaders had set aside the Telangana cause and were concentrating only on making as much money as possible.

Raghunandan threatened that he would release all the CDs containing the illegal transactions of KCR and other leaders in the Bashirbagh press club if the party did not go back on his suspension within 48 hours.

Claiming that he was loyal and never betrayed the party, Raghunandan questioned how he could be suspended at midnight even without giving information to him. He questioned if it was his fault to counter those who were attacking KCR. He has described KCR as the President of the Association of Timid Fellows of the World. He questioned KCR why he had not taken action against 3 TRS MLAs who violated the party whip in the MLC elections. He said KCR would not be able to achieve Telangana even if the party won 100 MLA and 17 MP seatss. 

Raghunandan said they all built the TRS as an anthill, toiling for 13 years and now snakes were sneaking into it. Referring to the charges that he was threatening industrialists and making money, he said he would rub his nose on the ground if it was proved.

Raghunandan said Harish Rao took money from him in TIrumala. He said despite taking money, Harish got him defeated when he contested as MLC. He charged Nayani Narasimha Reddy of collecting money by setting up labour unions in companies. 

He also alleged that Harish Rao tried to defeat KCR's son K T Rama Rao in Sircilla and still he was being spared. He questioned if it was not true that Harish Rao met the late Chief Minister Dr. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and got clearance for his joining the Congress. He lamented that those who made severe charges against the party were now being admitted.

Raghunandan Rao has threatened to go to the court, if the charges made against him were not proved. He also said he knew where from the party was getting funds and cheques. He also threatened to make the betrayal of TRS to Telangana public. Referring to the charge that he was indulging in betrayal of the party since 2009, Raghunandan Rao questioned why they had not taken any action against him if he was indulging in betrayal since then.

Stating that he was not trying to join any other party, Raghunandan dismissed allegations that he met the TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu.

Veteran director Dasari Narayana Rao is known for his fair blasting against any issue that fails to appease him. The other day he has warned a young hero of consequences if he fails to change his ways, in a smooth tone.

It happens to be the audio release function of Siddharth's latest Tamil dubbed flick 'Something Something'. Though it is a dubbed movie, the makers have reshot few portions of comedian Santhanam replaced by comedy king Brahmanandam. While unveiling the audio of this movie, Dasari, the chief guest, stated that time has come to name all Telugu flicks with Telugu titles. 'Telugu movies should be named with Telugu titles only. Otherwise I'll push people to agitate against them', said Dasari, looking at Siddharth. If you take a look at Siddu's latest movies, of course disasters, Love Failure, NH4, Jabardasth (Urdu word) are all named with other language words only.  Many people are appreciating Dasari for this smooth warning, as preferring to Telugu titles will increase the credibility of being a Telugu flick.

On the other hand directors like Sekhar Kammula who always love to name movies as 'Happy Days' and 'Life Is Beautiful' are worried with Dasari's warning. Let us see what happens.

Gorgeous Goan beauty Ileana who became a star in Bollywood on her debut with Barfi says she is never insecure about her career. Barfi bought her another twoprojects and she is currently starring in Phat Poster Nikla Hero and another untiled film.

However there are rumors that she deserted Tollywood which gave her immense stardom. Ileana says till now she starred in South without any break and is doing the same in Bollywood.

She says she has no impossible dreams like to be in the industry forever and she is aware that she will be in as long as she and viewers like her work. She says she will quit the moment she can not satisfy 

Legendary actor Kamal Hassan's daughter Shruti shocked one and all with her dare bare acts once again. During the start of her career she grabbed attention with her bikini acts and now after becoming a successful heroine, here goes her porn-star look.

Posing for the latest edition of Maxim India magazine, seductress Shruti Hassan showcases her wilder side you have never seen before. Wearing some skin hugging inner garments, the actress puts up her massive cleavage on display. Her shapely thighs that look firm due to that cross legged pose are making men go weak at knees. After the likes of Anushka Sharma and Shriya Saran, Shruti is the only seductress to go such bold on Maxim cover page. Looks like, our youths are not going to sleep for next two to three days.

Actress Ameesha Patel, who is set for her maiden appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival, will flaunt Indian attire by Bollywood's favourite designer Manish Malhotra on the red carpet there.

Ameesha's upcoming film “Shortcut Romeo”, which also features Neil Nitin Mukesh and Puja Gupta, will be premiered at the prestigious film festival May 22. And the 37-year-old is looking forward to the event.

“It is a huge honour for me to be representing our cinema at Cannes. I am not going there as a brand ambassador. I am going there for my movie and that is a big deal. Manish and I have decided that since I am representing the country on a global platform, it would be perfect to be dressed in something that’s truly desi,” Ameesha said in a statement

“Nothing looks better on an Indian woman than a sari or lehenga. I have to walk the red carpet in the morning and the premiere is at night, so there will be two outfits,” added the actress known for hits like "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai" and "Gadar - Ek Prem katha".

Hyderabad, May 7: Noted lawyer Sri Ranga Rao and several other lawyers met the city police commissioner Anurag Sarma and asked him to book a suo moto case against Ram Charan, hero and union minister Chiranjeevi’s son.

They urged the commissioner to book the case for the assault on some persons by him and his security staff. They said it was improper on the part of the police to leave the matter, stating that there was no complaint. They told the top cop that there were media reports and visuals in TV channels about the incident.

It may be recalled that some two persons complained to the Banjara Hills police that Ram Charan and his security guards beat them up for not giving way to the hero’s car. The victims showed their injuries and torn shirts to the media. Later no one knew what happened and the complainants themselves asked the media to ignore the incident. Police said they had not booked any case as there was no complaint.

Southern actress Hansika Motwani, who is currently shooting in Slovenia for an untitled Telugu multi-starrer, is completely in awe of the place.

"Slovenia is four hours away from Milan. And it's such an amazing place, so much honesty, peace and calmness. Loving it," Hansika posted on her Twitter page.

She is currently shooting with Vishnu Manchu for the film, which also features Manchu Manoj, Manchu Mohan Babu, Praneetha, Varun Sandesh and Tanish.

Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon will also feature in an important role in the film, being directed by Srivas.

Meanwhile, Hansika wrapped up shooting for upcoming Tamil comedy "Theeya Vela Seiyyanum Kumaru". She is also shooting for Tamil films "Vaalu" and "Vettai Mannan".

A person named Phani has filed complaint on Mega Powerstar Ram Charan for allegedly beating him up on road between Taj Krishna hotel and GVK Mall. Phani and his friend filed a complaint with Banjara Hills Police station against the hero and his security guards. Here goes the story.

While the main allegation of Phani seems to be Charan hitting him on his face, sources at the spot revealed that this guy and his friend irked Charan with their psychopathic acts. Reports have that when Charan is trying to pass GVK Mall in Road No.1, Banjara Hills, Phani and his friend travelling in a Maruti 800 spotted him. They wanted to tease Charan by not giving way to him and blocked his way by not giving space to overtake. Though Charan honked horn many times, these two paid no attention to it. Finally Charan managed to ram his multi-crore Ashton Martin through a small space and in that process the Maruti 800 brushed few scratches on our hero's car.

Miffed with that Charan blocked his car in front of Phani's and stopped the car. With Phani blasting Charan in foul language, our hero is heard calling his security guards who asked these two guys to behave themselves. Apart from this, there seems to be nothing like a scuffle as complained by Phani, where Charan manhandled these two guys along with his security guards.

We have to see what police will actually find out after getting into the scene. Watch this space for more updates. 

Allu Aravind stated today that 50% of the TV serials of other languages dubbed in to Telugu will be stopped from next month.

TV artists have been protesting over the issue for a long time and violence took place even when some groups were peacefully protesting. Left parties and some eminent film personalities support their cause.

Because of the agreements entered in to, it may not be possible to stop the dubbed serials all of a sudden but it can be gradually done so that the local artists' interests will not be hampered.

Film or TV actors have to maintain their physique and glamour and they need to spend good amount of money for that to survive as actors. It is easy for the TV Channels to go for dubbed serials as they are less costly and easy to get sponsors as its success is already proved in other languages. But the local artists find it difficult if ample opportunities are not given and sufficient remuneration is not received.

Allu Arvind said that he had a talk with other TV Channels and also with the artist groups protesting dubbed serials

Is the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy facing opposition to his schemes like ‘Indiramma Kalalu’ and ‘Bangaru Thalli’ from his own ministers? A day after some ministers criticized that the Chief Minister took unilateral decisions, rebel ministers met in the PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana’s residence. They even decided to complain to the High Command about the Chief Minister’s style of functioning. 


The internal differences in the Congress party came to the fore with the ‘Bangaru Thalli’ scheme. Ministers were divided into pro and anti Kiran groups. Rebel ministers had met on Thursday morning at the residence of Botsa Satyanarayana. The Deputy Chief Minister Damodara Raja Narasimha, ministers Jana Reddy, Vatti Vasanta Kumar and D L Ravindra Reddy attended the meeting. It is learnt that they mainly discussed about the ‘Bangaru Thalli’ scheme in the one-hour meeting. It is learnt that the ministers expressed displeasure that the Chief Minister had not discussed the scheme in the cabinet and decided to complain against him to the High Command. It may be recalled that Botsa and DL had already criticized the Chief Minister indirectly, by stating that they knew nothing about the ‘Bangaru Thalli’ scheme. 


It is learnt that the Deputy Chief Minister Damodara Raja Narasimha expressed anguish that the Chief Minister had not said a single word to him about the ‘Indiramma Kalalu’ scheme. The dissidents are planning to meet the High Command after the Karnataka Assembly elections. Talk in political circles is that they planned to make the complaint to the High Command in such a way that it would take a definite decision on the Chief Minister. 


However, pro-CM ministers like Kondru Murali are claiming that the Chief Minister had discussed the ‘Bangaru Thalli’ scheme with available ministers. He dismissed dissidence by saying lightly that it was natural that one or two ministers might defer.

Actress Aishwarya, the daughter of action king Arjun, who is making her acting debut with a Vishal starrer untitled flick has no qualms getting intimate onscreen.

Aishwarya openly declared that her actor-father has given her complete freedom to explore the field and she wouldn't mind doing a kissing scene if the script demands such commitment from her.

It may be recalled that Aishwaya collapsed on the sets while shooting for her debut flick at Thrichy due to severe heat. This incident happened when Arjun is on the sets and the dotting father was the first person to come to the rescue of the beauty. Being a thorough professional, Aish joined the shoot within few hours and wrapped up he shoot of her scenes for the day.

Unit sources say, Aishwarya is a bundle of talent and her acting prowess will be appreciated by one and all. Director Bhoopathy Pandian has been showering praises on the debutant saying she isn't just good looking but a born actress.

'Pavitra' is a much-talked-about film featuring Shreya in the lead role. Both the heroine and the director Janardana Maharshi have high hopes on the film. Some reports earlier said Shreya donned the role of a sex worker. 

'Greeku Veerudu' of Nagarjuna is going to hit the screen in a few hours from now. Story just leaked into the Film Nagar…. According to discussions in Film Nagar, the story is like this…. Chandu (Nagarjuna) runs an event management company in USA. He gets used to the culture there. He also feels that life, sentiments and love relations in India would be no different.  He comes to India on an errand and keeps enjoying life here, thinking that the conditions here are more or less the same. He then meets Sandhya (Nayantara), a doctor committed to service. She works with the charitable organization 'Make a Wish'. She believes in sentiments, relations and love. Chandu and Sandhya who have conflicting views about life, get acquainted to each other. Would Chandu change his views on life and understand human relations and family emotions prevalent in India? Would the two ultimately fall in love?  This is the crux of the story. It is being said that the character of Meera Chopra is important in the film. It is being talked in the Film Nagar that it is with her entry that the film would take an important turn.  The film's story resembles director Dasarath's earlier film 'Mr. Perfect', in which the hero and heroine have divergent views. Ultimately they unite when the hero changes his views. We would know if this is the story in a few hours.  King Nagarjuna told the media on Thursday that he liked his character in the film. He said styling and presentation of his character was more like a mixture of 'Santosham' and 'Manmadhudu'. He also said that the chemistry between him and Nayana Tara worked out well in the film.

Harare, April 30: A soldier complained that he was kept hostage for a week by four women and gang raped, in Zimbabwe. 

The soldier found the four women going in a car and requested them for a lift. Then he said he was abducted and kept in an isolated place and gang raped.  

The soldier alleged that he was bound, gagged, beaten and eventually thrown in a nearby mountain Dangamvura.  

The incident happened after the soldier asked for a lift from a Mercedes car being driven by two women and one male. During the journey, the driver altered the route on the pretext of buying food. The soldier objected and asked to be dropped. 

But he was threatened and one of the woman accomplices showed him a knife and he was blindfolded. The accused even snatched his money. He was kept hostage in a secluded location from 19 to 23 April. The man was allegedly gang-raped by four women for one week. 

The man was eventually thrown at a nearby mountain of Dangamvura. The man has a deep wound on his left leg- supposedly an injury inflicted by a stone.

The local police have registered the complaint and the investigation is underway.

Hyderabad, April 29: Decks are now clear for Kavita, daughter of the TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao to contest to Lok Sabha from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Kavita has been so far keeping off the TRS. She is heading the cultural wing Telangana Jagruti and confined herself to Bonalu and other activities. Now KCR reportedly cleared her entry into the party. 

Earlier reports said she was opting either Nizamabad Lok Sabha or Janagaon Assembly constituency. But it is now learnt that Kavita has decided to contest from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat. 

Though Kavita has been active in the Telangana movement, she never occupied a seat on the dais at TRS programmes. Kavita occupying a seat at the TRS formation day meeting has become a talking point. It also gave credence to reports about her political intentions.

Hyderabad, April 28: “Arrogance is like a political creature. It does not have senses. It has only a sharp tongue and the pointing finger.”

At the halfway mark in the ongoing cricketing tamasha called Indian Premier League cricketers of all hues and cries are engaged in intense cricketing battle.

While the cricketers are sweating it out and staking their pride and prestige, with elections appearing anytime, the political stadium in Andhra Pradesh is witnessing contests of entirely different nature. Here the politician involved in a game of political musical chairs making the game of politics too intense and hot.

While the contest among the cricketers is very fascinating, that of politicians is becoming more irritating and causing apprehensions. It is entirely different matter as Sports are always entertaining, politics is forever exasperating.

In a rapidly moving game of political one-upmanship among them, each party has embarked on taking up different programmes like conducting padayatras to holding Samarabheri public meetings.

Even as CBN held a massive public meeting to mark culmination of his Vasthunna Mee kosam padayatra at Vishakhapatnam, TRS organized an impressive show of strength at Armoor to mark its 12th formation day. While, KCR made an attempt to roar with rhetoric, CBN tried to convince the people that he is indeed a changed man for the good.

While what shape the antics of Chandrababu would take is a matter to be known in future, KCR’s impressive show at Armoor turned out be a show of pure rhetoric belying the expectations that the meeting would present an action plan to advance Telangana movement. Instead, the meeting controlled by KCR’s rhetoric focused entirely on Political future of the Party.

When a good number TRS honchos small and big, young and old with mini and mega mindsets or no mindsets assembled in the guise of observing the 12th Formation day to work out a new action plan to re-launch Telangana movement at Armoor, it didn’t turn out to be either a clash of the titans or intellectual gymnastics but an “exercise to enable politics and disable the movement”. The rendezvous was only a move to prove that the KCR Parivar was fully in control of both the movement and the party. KCR was full of confidence, and the consensus reached among the party men to his rhetoric symbolized the vital paradigm shift of the party towards more politics and less action plan to strengthen the movement.

Since its existence in the last twelve years, TRS remained hanger-on either to the Congress or to the TDP. At the same time it was no mean achievement to have sustained the politics around the Telangana movement in the face of myriad political scenarios in the long and chequered journey. Amid this roller coaster political journey, KCR led his party with an unmatched alacrity and unparalleled political dexterity. TRS grew into a force to reckon with, yet it hasn’t fortified its position from being a fledgling toddler to an enthusiastic teenager raring to go.

Now the congregation of ‘pink panthers’ is all set to behave like adolescents with its supremo making it clear that the party might be contesting alone in the elections so as to prove its strength among all the parts of Telangana.

Having gained little from the Centre even after intensifying the agitation, KCR is now focusing entirely on the political battle. The election provides him with a huge opportunity to improve the TRS’s political muscle.

The TRS by announcing it will fight the polls alone is also indicating its self-confidence. But it is not as if the drive is not going to be bumpy for KCR. The flip side is that there could be a few Mahbubnagars along the way (the BJP defeated the TRS in a by-poll in Mahbubnagar in 2012) but that is a risk the TRS seems to be willing to take. The pitch that is likely to be sold to the voters in the region is that unless they vote in big numbers for the TRS, there will be no Telangana.

For more than a decade, KCR has been selling a dream to the people of Telangana. The sentiment is still strong in many parts of the region but it is also coupled with disenchantment not only with the Congress but also with the TRS. The party has used the emotion for statehood to gain politically, with KCR’s family now virtually in control of the TRS.

KCR, who asserted that the Telangana movement would continue until the separate state is achieved, has now set his eyes on winning 100 out of 119 assembly seats and 15 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the region. He tells the people that a resounding victory with these numbers would bestow a politically decisive position on the party.

Of course this target is like aiming for the sky. Would KCR’s party scale up to telephone wires is a conjecture of time.

The next election will be a make or a break for the TRS. If it wins anywhere close to one hundred seats in the assembly and 13-15 MPs, it will call the shots both in Hyderabad and in New Delhi. And KCR has a reputation of being a hard bargainer. But if it gets less than 60, it will be seen as empirical evidence that the Telangana sentiment is not widespread across the region as it is made out to be and will dilute the demand for statehood.

By seeking recourse for Parliamentary lobbying as the only way to achieve Telangana, KCR is all set to enable the politics and disable the Telangana and its movement which has always been an independent idea, a political aspiration, an emotional sentiment and a cultural curiosity.

The ball is now in the Telangana polling booths.

Visakhapatnam, April 27: Winding up his nearly seven-month long 'padyatra' (walkathon), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu Saturday promised to bring back Andhra Pradesh on the path of development and restore its glory.

Addressing a mammoth public meeting here Saturday night, Naidu made a slew of promises for all sections of people and assured that if voted to power in the next elections, he would fulfill all the promises.

The leader of opposition promised waiver of all loans of farmers to make agriculture profitable, protected drinking water to every village, jobs to all educated youth and monthly unemployment allowance in the event of an educated youth not getting employment.

Sharing his experiences of the padyatra, Naidu declared that the first file he would sign after swearing in as the chief minister would be to waive farm loans.

Describing electricity shortage as the biggest problem faced by the state, Naidu promised to put the sector back on rails. He pointed out how the sector was doing well and the state made all-round progress during his nine-year rule (1995-2004).

His other promises include a comprehensive insurance scheme for poor, improving the education sector, generation of jobs for youths, protection of women and girl child, closure of belt shops (unauthorized outlets of liquor shops), and waiver of interest on loans to women's self-help groups.

Naidu targeted Congress government for its inefficiency and YSR Congress party for the corruption. He blamed Congress party's misrule for the problems faced by people, while accusing late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of looting public wealth while cheating people in the name of various welfare schemes.

He termed YSR party as a child of Congress, saying it was formed to protect the ill-gotten money. Naidu lamented that Hyderabad had become corruption capital of the country. He said ministers including the home minister were accused in YSR party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy's illegal assets case and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was busy in shielding them.

Naidu ruled out any truck with communal parties and claimed that TDP was committed to protect secularism. He predicted that regional parties would sweep 2014 elections and that TDP would once again play a key role in national politics.

Thousands of people from various parts of the state turned up for what is being seen as the main opposition party's major show of strength ahead of the next year's elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha.

Earlier, the former chief minister unveiled a 60-feet pylon to mark the culmination of 2,817 km long padyatra, the longest such padyatra undertaken by a politician in the state.

Naidu's wife Bhuvaneswari, son Lokesh, brother-in-law and popular Telugu actor N. Balakrishna and top leaders of the party were present on the occasion.

By undertaking the padyatra, the 64-year-old broke the record of his bitter rival Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who had covered nearly 1,500 km in 64 days in 2003. That 'padyatra' helped Rajasekhara Reddy to bring Congress party to power in 2004, ending Naidu's nine-year-long rule.

Hoping to repeat history, Naidu launched his padyatra on Oct 2 last year at Hindupur in Anantapur district. He covered 16 districts, interacting with various sections of people to know their problems and making promises if TDP regains power in 2014 elections.