Hey! It’s simple to get your wishes, how ridiculous they are, granted for the Congress government has become quite generous.

All you have to do is to declare your wish and threaten to begin fast unto death if it is not fulfilled immediately by the government. Please make sure you have sufficient followers or hooligans with some experience in creating violence in prime pockets of the city. Also choose a public healthcare centre at the heart of the city and get yourself admitted there. Let the technology keep you alive even though you don't consume food. Don't forget to release a few clippings of your hospital life to the media.

The central government will deliberate with the state government and will come to you with the news that they will initiate the process to fulfill your wish. The whole process might take about 10-15 days in all, which is a bit tiring but not impossible.

Sounds simple, isn’t? Thanks to TRS’ big enchilada K. Chandrashekar Rao aka KCR for showing us the simplest way to securing what we want. I consider him far greater than the first man who landed on the moon or the person who invented the wheel.

We should also be grateful to the Sonia government err the Congress government for its benevolence. Nobody expected the government to succumb to KCR’s blackjacking in a jiffy. It was a hasty and infantile decision which caused furor across Andhra Pradesh.

It’s a big disgrace to the great Potti Sriramulu and others who laid down their lives for a separate Andhra Pradesh during 1950s.

Simple calculations point to the opinion of the common public in Telangana. Just look at the number of votes TRS managed to register since 2001 in various state and district level elections in this region. The number has been coming down drastically, and in the recent assembly elections, the party was almost routed. Chaos prevailed after the elections and KCR stepped down as the president. Of course! he came back to power in a dramatic fashion.

Everyone in the state knew KCR was enacting the drama only to gain his lost glory. But how could the Congress ignore this? Or is there any other strong hidden reason which has motivated the party to take such a poor decision on Telangana?

However, the whole episode boomeranged on KCR and Congress in particular. With MLAs and MPs belonging to Andhra and Rayalaseema areas, irrespective of their political league, taking a U-turn, the whole issue is now back to square one.

The Congress has indeed opened the Pandora's box, allowing other dormant statehood movements across the country slowly regain momentum.

The whole episode was akin to a reality show where producers try to project scripted shows as real.

It started with huge hype and hoopla that would preceed any reality show, followed by a few unexpected turns and twists to keep the audience hooked, and finally ended on predicted lines.

I am referring to the drama enacted by TRS supremo K. Chandrashekhar Rao in the name of indefinite hunger strike for separate Telangana state.

He started his drama with huge publicity as though he was testing a nuclear bomb. On the D-Day, he smartly relocated himself to a jail, while his supporters, mostly students in University campuses in Telangana districts, bore the brunt of police lathicharge. Of course, the policemen used force only after the students resorted to some mindless violence.

More drama followed as the already depleted KCR adamantly refused saline infusion and pushed the doctors around away. He, however, allowed the doctors to give saline after a brief parody, and later took some fruit juice, officially terminating his 24-hour drama. His party termed this as an act of repression by the state government.

What followed was really heartning. The same students who even went on to burn themselves began lamblasting KCR after he called off his fast unto death act, just after 24 hours.

They all, at least now, have realized that KCR and Telangana movement are two separate issues.

Before you jump to form your own conclusions, let me inform you that R.A.P.E here is not exactly what a dictionary reveals, but quite near to it.

R.A.P.E stands for Ruling Against Public Expectations. And that's what has happened in Andhra Pradesh and India, at least over the last five years.

Without going into details of the unfinished projects, money siphoned to centre, high-level corruption, Satyam scandal, faulty government schemes and bomb blasts, I urge all the people in the state to vote for Lok Satta, led by former IAS officer Jaya Prakash Narayan and avoid getting R.A.P.E(d).

My sincere appeal to all educated young people across Andhra Pradesh:

Don't skip voting to enjoy the holiday on the election day, please cast your vote to enjoy for the next five years.

Make hay while the sun shines. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of Honorably corrupt Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is simply following the old adage. During the last four years, he has started a number of businesses ranging from real estate to newspaper using public money or money pumped by corporates, which are duly compensated by his father.

Marching ahead, he has ventured into yet another business. The long awaited Sakshi TV has been launched today with lot of glitz and glamor. Sakshi TV, a new Telugu news channel, is aimed to thwart belittling attempts by rival Telugu news channels like Eenadu and to sing praises of the Congress party and its achievements. With elections in the offing, launching a television channel is not a bad idea.

Months after launching Sakshi newspaper, Jagan is already mired in controversies. Moreover the feedback on Sakshi newspaper has been very poor and a number of paper boys have started recommending other newspapers in their quest for more commission. Now with this new addition, where will Jagan head? Will the companies continue their patronage even if the Congress loses the elections?

PS: Sakshi TV logo sucks. So far, TV 9 has got the best logo among Telugu news channels.

King usually refers to someone with ultimate powers in a State. Within his territory, nothing is impossible for the king and everyone in the kingdom must obey him. As we know, with great power comes great responsibility and the state of affairs in a kingdom depends solely on its King.

Though kings are now non-existent in India, our political leaders, who are generally inaccessible to general public during non-election times, can be called Kings, albeit with some adjectives added. I believe they can be safely addressed as lethargic and ineffective Kings, who, despite being vested with innumerable powers by the Constitution, cut a sorry figure every time a mishap occurs.

Accepted that there a few issues that require intense debate and deliberation before arriving at a conclusion, but how much time will it take for the State governments or the Central government to enact stringent laws to tackle burning issues like terrorism, atrocities against women, etc. Of course, laws alone do not bring down the crime rate but they can be deterrents.

It is sad that a person who attacks with acid is sentenced to a few years of imprisonment and is imposed a nominal fine. The insane animal robs someone of her rosy life but is booked for attempt to murder and is awarded a nominal punishment. In the case of Manohar, the killer of Srilaxmi, a lower court ordered that he be sent to the gallows but the Andhra Pradesh High Court commuted it to life imprisonment in order to give him a chance to reform. Shouldn't he be hanged to send jitters down the spine of all criminal minds? In fact, human rights activists were howling against the death sentence. Huh! we need to get rid of these dented minds first.

Similarly a captured terrorist is fed relentlessly in jail. Shouldn't he be killed once found guilty? Why the delay and why the fail? Just because their (the rulers') near and dear are not directly affected.

The National Investigating Agency Bill, 2008 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2008 that were passed today are just reactive measures. POTA was scrapped only because it was introduced by the BJP-led NDA and to garner Muslim votes during 2004 elections. The end-result, crippled intelligence network and handicapped anti-terrorism units leading to umpteen number of blasts across the country. Instead of apologizing for the terror strikes, Union science and technology minister Kapil Sibal shamelessly said that Congress had learnt lessons from its past experience in fighting terrorism. In his words, "In life, as in politics, nothing is static.... ideologies change. We all learn from experience,"

If only our politicians had wished for a stricter anti-terrorism law just after the 1993 blasts and a stringent punishment just after the first acid attack, the situation would have been different today. Once bitten twice not shy!

There are more such issues which need immediate attention. But let us wait for something worse to happen just to gain some more experience.

The Nandi awards (for 2005 and 2006) ceremony held today at the LB stadum resembled more like a film actors-led election campaign for the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the the recipients were staunch supports of the ruling Congress government and they have been bestowed upon with many invaluable assets by the State Government.

The timing of the awards is just before the impending elections and a few sops have been offered to the film industry. The venue has been shifted from Lalitha Kala Thoranam to L.B.Stadium to allow superstar Krishna and Mahesh Babu's supporters to pour in. In fact, this was touted as political debut for Mahesh. Of course, Mahesh has said a big no to politics and even warned of skipping the event in case of any political connection.

Now the real story. The winners Nagarjuna and Mahesh Babu, have a great filmy flashback attached to this. Nagarjuna has promised to support Congress in exchange for permission to raise a commercial complex in Annapurna Studios in Jubliee Hills. As the Government rule prevents them from using the land for other than running the studio, Nagarjuna turned to the ruling government for the favor. Mahesh Babu's father Krishna has been a Congress supporter for long and Congress has been desperate to pull superstar Mahesh into politics to negate Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna. Krishna has been awarded NTR lifetime achievement. Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, a popular comedian and strong Congress I supporter, was on the dias right from the beginning. He was offered about 7 acres of land to construct a religious sanctuary by the government. It's reported that the land is under dispute.

With no actor from the Nandamuri tribe or and only Nagendra Babu from Chiranjeevi family present at the event, it turned out to be Congress show all the way.

PS: The whole event was shabbily organized. The anchor seemed to be in a hurry to rush back home to take his wife out for dinner.

This has become a joke. Like a new film release, we are witnessing a fresh bomb blast every week in some metro in India. More than experiencing terror, I was laughing at myself, the people of this country and the eunuchs heading the country's home department. In fact, I changed the news channel telecasting the ghastly scenes of the Delhi blasts and started watching a Telugu comedy film.

I know it's easy to blame the Government for such incidents and any layman would do that first. But it's become a regular affair and the central government doesn't seem to have got any answer for this menace. Clearly a case of vote bank politics. And I would love to see this ineffective, inefficient government bite the dust in the next polls.

Coming back to my reaction, we have surrendered ourselves to the insane creatures, who are planting bombs as though they are in a competition. Given the situation, as commoners, we are like a herd of cattle waiting to get slaughtered.

Just wait for your turn! All the best.

"Cong backs SP, RJD demand to ban RSS," says a Rediff newsline.

Gimme a Break! I don't know how far minority appeasement should go on. But ignoring national securtiy for the sake of votes, I think, can be seen only in India. There are evidences to prove that SIMI has links with extremist organizations. But what the hell has RSS done that poses threat to national security? If talking tough against people read Muslims) who are supporting terrorist activities in India makes someone eligible for getting banned, more than 90 per cent of India's population can join the list. It's alike to preventing citizens from safeguarding their nation.

The Congress Party has done everything in the last four years to reach the trough and this seems to be another step towards setting another landmark.

All the best buggers!

I went to an e-seva counter at Begumpet today, to pay a fine levied by the Hyderabad traffic cops. The story unfolds as follows

According to the inland letter received from the commissioner's office, I jumped a traffic signal on January 03, 2008. I received a snail mail after a gap of nearly five months (on June 20th) asking me to pay Rs.135 as fine. I even don't know whether I committed the mentioned offense. First, I thought of writing to the commissioner asking him the reason for delay in sending the challan. But again, I was sure that I would never get a reply.

Hence, like a responsible citizen, I tried to pay it on the same day. Upon my friend Akhil's advice, we tried to pay it online. He already had registered with the website to pay fine for a similar offense. The server didn't accept his request. Thought the server was down and tried the day after. But the result was same. This went on for about one week. Finally, I and another traffic violator (my friend Ramakrishna) decided to end this agony by paying at the counter. Poor Akhil tried to pay online even minutes before our journey to the e-seva counter, but to no avail.

Finally, we were at the counter and were served with tokens and asked to sit in the waiting hall. There were about a handful of gentlemen (bill payers) inside and I thought it would all be over in a jiffy. But the server proved me wrong and made us wait for about 15 minutes. I learned from the team there that the server was down since June 21, 2007, and that there was no one to take care.

I believe that the e-seva concept is given a step motherly treatment by the current government, as it was started by TDP. Another interesting observation was that Rajiv's name was prefixed before the e-seva logo.

Enough of Rajiv bhajan, I sincerely wish Congress party's debacle in the coming elections, at least in Andhra Pradesh.

These are the words of Sonia amma during an election campaign in UP. She asked the Congress workers to step on the gas and expose the misgovernance of Mayawati's government, during which she wanted the workers to go to jail and Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the beloved beta billu of Congress, would follow them "if needed".

Can anyone including Sonia tell when that need arises? Is it really necessary to go to jail to expose the atrocities of the state government; that too for a political party?

There are numerous ocassions where political leaders have accompanied their followers to jail. While the leaders come out, most of the workers are often ignored.

Namaste Sonia amma.

This is continuation of my earlier post on Chiru and his entry into politics. It will be a mistake to say that Chiru will change Andhra Pradesh in a jiffy, if he wins the next elections.

I only say that we need some one who has a clean image (leave alone his family matters) and has been involved in giving something for the society which has given him the status, money and power to come to power. Couple of reasons and extended thoughts on why Chiru's entry is important

1. As said a good human being with a penchant for service. He already has enough money and so I think (but not sure) money is not the motivating factor for him to enter politics.

But not sure how will he be after joining the politics.

2. Through his loyal fans, who made his blood and eye banks huge success, he can achieve his ambition or take his initiatives closer to people better than normal political parties.

As to some comments on my friend's blog, the future of Chiru's son is more secured than Akshayee Khanna, Bobby Deol, Ranbir Kapoor, Farhadeen Khan, etc. His daughter episode is history now. As far as Chiru is concerned, it is too early for him to call it a day.

This said, it is important for Chiru not to follow the footsteps of late NTR who started with a bang and over a period of time became one among the many filthy politicians.

However, it would be better if Chiru decides to partner with a meaningful party like Lok Satta.

This is a good news for millions of people, include the write too.

Personally, I have been waiting for someone with a macho image to enter the world of dirty politics, atleast in Andhra Pradesh which has been under the clutches of two caste-based selfish political parties during the last two decades.

The signals from our Megastar camp indicating the floating a new political party has
certainly created ripples across entire Andhra Pradesh. Padmabhusan Megastar Chiranjeevi's larger than life image on screen, massisive fan following (I presume more than half of AP which is around 5 crores along with his fellow caste members) and the command he has over the Telugu film industry, will definitely attract the votes of masses.

Closely observing the mood of people across Andhra Pradesh, it is clear that they are vexed with the current govt for obvious reasons. In this situation, Chiranjeevi, who already has shown his inclination to do something for the society (for whatever reasons), has given a fresh lease of life to the boring and mundane politics.

If everything goes well, he might well become the next CM. Already, there are some politicians from the TDP and Congress willing to join Chiru's party. Rajashekar Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu are under tremendous pressure as they are sure the Chiru wave will certainly throw them to distant shores.

However, this said, I would love him to guide the party and continue to mesmerize us
through his screen presence.

Vote for Chiru

Jai Chiranjeeva!