'Maoists trying to regroup in Andhra Pradesh'

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HYDERABAD: With law-enforcing agencies tightening screws on their arms channels, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) cadre is now heavily dependent on country-made weapon factories of Munger in Bihar to procure small arms.

After the surrender of Gudsa Usendi (Gummadavalli Venkata Krishna Prasad), a top Maoist leader, who used to be the face of the rebel outfit in Chhattisgarh as spokesperson of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), the Andhra Pradesh police came to know that Usendi used to have a strong courier network through which he used to communicate with his hierarchy before publishing or communicating.

If intelligence officials are to be believed, this English-speaking Maoist gained knowledge about the left-wing literature during his stay in the forest and not through any professional education. "Usendi never used any communication network. He carried out the Maoist ideology propaganda through its press unit using a wide courier network. With available information, none of the leaders from Andhra Pradesh are on their radar. However, it is a fact that Maoists are making attempts to regroup in Andhra Pradesh,'' sources in intelligence told TOI.

Usendi had married thrice and Santhoshi Markam alias Jaini, who surrendered along with him, is his third wife. Usendi's first wife died in an encounter with police, while he deserted his second wife.

Though police denied reports of Prasad's political ambitions, the surrendered Maoist speaking to the media did not rule out joining active politics. It appears that Prasad is eyeing the 2014 Assembly election and it could be one of the reasons for giving himself up.

A staunch supporter of separate Telangana state, Prasad, when questioned about his intention to participate in elections, simply said: "I might. But I will decide it later.'' The former Maoist said that he would be active by being among the people.

Earlier in the day, after producing the couple before the media, DGP B Prasada Rao said that the duo surrendered before police due to ideological differences besides health problems. To a query about the recent central alert that Maoists were gearing up to create violence during the 2014 elections, the DGP said: "The state police is well prepared to deal with it."

"Usendi opposed destruction of school buildings, blasting high tension power transmission lines and roads besides indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians by branding them as police informers,'' Prasada Rao said.

Prasad and the DGP denied reports that the former's surrender was facilitated by a minister from Warangal, which is incidentally Usendi's native district.

After the media briefing, Gummadavalli Venkata Krishna Prasad walked to his freedom as per the surrender agreement with the state government. He was given Rs 20 lakh as per the state government policy for the surrendered Maoists. Though no case is pending against Usendi in AP, however, he faces several criminal charges in Chhattisgarh and other naxal-affected states.
'Maoists trying to regroup in Andhra Pradesh' - The Times of India

 

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Pehle AAP, Nahi, pehle aap. This is the general courtesy of old time Hyderabadis. But after 58 years, Hyderabadi tahzeeb has spread to politicians of all regions of Andhra Pradesh.

But the only change here is that Aap means Aam Aadmi Party. There is a race for radical people politics in the state after AAP's resounding victory at national capital. Leaders from parties ranging from main opposition TDP to Lok Satta Party and film hero from Tollywood to bureaucrats have started making moves to either lead the state AAP unit or collaborate with it with an eye on the Assembly elections due in next 4 months.

Lok Satta Party leaders led by its national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan will be meeting AAP founder and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi on January 11 to discuss how they can work together and spread alternative politics all over the country. He said, "Promoting clean politics and ridding the country of corruption and dynastic rule is the need of the hour."

But this bureaucrat-turned-politician is not alone with this ideas of eradicating corruption and establishing Aam Aadmi-centered politics in the state. According to sources, it includes TDP leader Palem Srikanth Reddy, a Maharashtra cadre IPS officer from AP, Pawan Kalyan, a highly successful Telugu film hero. Srikanth Reddy, who is a Stanford University graduate and entrepreneur, claims that soon after the superb show put up by the AAP in the Delhi assembly elections, there has been tremendous pressure on him from social workers and students to float a political party. He is planning to hold a final meeting with his supporters on January 8 and most likely announce the party plans and details on January 16-17.

Srikanth Reddy is the son of retired Chief Justice P. Chenna Kesava Reddy and is founder and chairman of Palred Technologies Limited. He is also founder-president of the professional's cell of the TDP. He was main opponent in Kadapa LS constituency in the 2009 elections against Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The high-profile IPS officer V.V. Lakshmi Narayana, who was Joint Director of CBI, in Andhra Pradesh and who came to fame when leading the investigations like OMC scandal, Emaar properties, Satyam scandal , YS Jaganmohan Reddy's disproportionate assets cases is also reported to be moving in AAP direction. He also met Chiranjeevi's brother and discussed the idea of launching a political party with anti-corruption as the objective. But before making real move on AAP front, this 1990 batch IPS officer has to first quit government service. For this, it is likely to take some time.

Meanwhile, several people from the old city joined AAP after it opened its office at Moghulpura on Saturday. Among those who joined were 50 lawyers. Qawi Abbasi was made the Old City coordinator of the party. Party claims that ever since AAP's victory in the Delhi polls, there has been a spurt in membership. They said the number of members in Telangana region currently stands at 33,000. "We intend to take the legal route to address problems and challenge the government on wrongdoings through public interest litigations," said Abbasi, who practices in the high court.


AAP in Telangana region

"It's a deluge of phone calls and emails we have been receiving everyday from many parts of the state," says M P Thomas, 53, state coordination committee member. "The number of people who have joined the AAP is well over twenty thousand from ten districts of Telangana alone.

Thomas was earlier working in the public sector and gave up his career "to fulfill a childhood dream of serving the nation." While most of his time is devoted to the party work, he also continues to be associated with Caring Citizens Collective, an organization working for the families of farmers who have committed suicide. His 90-year-old mother too has joined and also made a small donation to the party.

"We have been receiving enquiries from people of all ages and walks of life. It's heartening to see that several students, young professionals and homemakers are showing interest too." Several volunteers have associated themselves with the Please Vote Campaign in various districts, which is all about motivating people to utilize their right to vote for whoever they wish to but vote they must. "Our aim is to bring up the voting percentage of people to above 80 percent," says Thomas. This campaign will eventually be merged with the election campaign.

Talking of issues, there are generic issues like inflation and corruption that need to be dealt with, but more specifically, "there will be local manifestos for each locality and district to address the issues of that particular group of people," says G Vijay Prakash, state coordination member who has been involved in the Andhra-Rayalseema districts. "The structure is bottom up rather than top to bottom and we have an ad hoc committee system set up to support and facilitate local groups." Vijay Prakash is a software engineer who gave up his career to work full time for AAP.
"The issues will be those that come from the people themselves. Other issues specific to the state that have generally come up are water, school education and liquor related issues among others. But these will first be discussed by the zonal committees and focused strategies will be evolved to fight them. We get several grievances from people and we hope to put in place an efficient system through which they are connected to the appropriate team to look into the issues," says Thomas.

"Emulating the AAP's policy on free water, we hear some politicians here are also talking about wanting to provide water in a similar way. But that may be more of a knee-jerk reaction. AAP's decisions on the other hand, are based on its core set of values and political philosophy," says Thomas. A few members from other political parties have shown interest in joining AAP. The Lok Satta party has also shown interest in joining hands with AAP. "Middle management level professionals from corporates and a few personalities from the field of education too like Dr Chukka Ramaiah of the IIT Ramaiah Institute have expressed keen interest in being associated with AAP," shares Thomas.



Read more at: In Andhra, AAP galvanises smaller parties : South, News - India Today

 

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Tempers ran high in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly today during the debate on the draft AP Reorganisation Bill as TRS legislator K Vidyasagar Rao rushed menacingly towards Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas and allegedly tried to manhandle him.

Tempers ran high in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly today during the debate on the draft AP Reorganisation Bill as TRS legislator K Vidyasagar Rao rushed menacingly towards Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas and allegedly tried to manhandle him.

The TRS legislator also allegedly manhandled one of the senior-most MLAs Gade Venkata Reddy (Congress), triggering angry protests by Seemaandhra members cutting across party lines.

Both Congress and TDP members from Seemaandhra demanded an apology from the TRS member and wanted the Speaker to come to their rescue.

Regretting the unruly behaviour of his party colleague, TRS floor leader Etela Rajender said what Vidyasagar Rao did was wrong.

"He should not have behaved like that," Rajender said.

It all began when Rajender himself was participating in the debate on the draft Bill.

Taking exception to certain remarks made by Rajender, while arguing the cause of a separate state, Whip Dronamraju, hailing from Seemaandhra, wondered what their fate would be if the state was divided when Telangana members were behaving like this even before the state was formed.

At that point, Vidyasagar rushed towards Dronamraju and tried to manhandle him.

Senior legislator Gade tried to prevent an ugly scene but Vidyasagar pushed him aside. This led to slogans and counter-slogans between Telangana and Seemaandhra members.

Gade expressed anguish that Vidyasagar held him by his shirt and wondered if it was the decorum of Telangana members.

Gade demanded an apology from the TRS over this. "We know how to defend ourselves if TRS resorts to such acts," he said.

TDP senior legislators Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy and Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar strongly condemned the TRS member's action and demanded an apology.

"It's not proper to attack any member of the House. The Speaker should come to our rescue. The entire House should condemn the TRS MLA's act," Dhulipalla demanded.

It was an attack not only Gade alone but on entire Seemaandhra people, Bojjala remarked.

Tempers run high in Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly over bifurcation bill - India - DNA