The Great Indian Political Drama - 1 (Oct 2017 - Mar 2018)

[a_bharat]

Elections are one year away and things can change. But, right now, the BJP in AP is in the same state as Congress was in 2014 (and still is). TDP has no option but to distance itself from BJP. The biggest issues are 1. Rehabilitation package for the people displaced in Polavaram project (over 60% of total cost, thanks to 2013 Land Acquisition Bill and appreciation of land prices) -- the Centre is trying to escape from this responsibility, 2. Calculation of Revenue Deficits -- instead of taking the actual deficits, the Centre is using revenue projections by Finance Commission (or Niti Ayog) to cheat AP. The actual realized revenues were well below the projections. 3. CBN was originally OK with Special package promised by the Centre in lieu of Special Status, but the state got nothing as the Centre kept using some pretext or the other to evade providing any assistance to the state.

And even going by BJP numbers, the total assistance given by the Centre to the state in the 4 years was just Rs. 12,500 crores, which is just peanuts compared to the loss suffered by AP due to reckless bifurcation of the state by Congress and BJP.

[Lilo]

Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu misled people on Polavaram Project, Congress Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao says in open letter
By Express News Service | Published: 04th March 2018

Congress Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao in an open letter explained how Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has misled people of Andhra Pradesh with regard to Polavaram project.

Addressing media-persons in Hyderabad, he explained the contents of the open letter addressed to the Chief Minister. He said the Naidu government has never cooperated with Polavaram Project Authority set up by the Centre for the execution of the project.

In spite of repeated clarifications from the Centre that Polavaram is a national project, Naidu has constantly demanded it to treat Polavaram as a normal AIBP project, he said.

“As per the Union Cabinet decision on May 1, 2014, cost escalation along with resettlement and rehabilitation of the project displaced has to be borne by the Centre. However, with an ulterior motive, Naidu even agreed to cost estimations before 2014 to make the Centre agree to his demand to hand over the project to State,” he said.

When the PPA started work from January 1, 2015, fearing he would lose the hold on the project, GO 22 was issued, providing an opportunity for contractors to get additional funds in the name of EPC and Turnkey for two years.

When Polavaram Project Authority has asked for revised estimates and transfer of assets and liabilities since its first meeting in March 2015, the State never transferred them. When it was questioned in second PPA meeting, the answer was: the revised estimates will be prepared in 10 days time, but even after five months, that is at the time of third PPA meeting, they were the not prepared.

When the Centre made it clear that the project is a national project and not a state project, pressure was exerted to reimburse the amount spent on the project by the State after April 1, 2014.
In the 4th meeting of PPA, when the additional burden on the project cost due to GO 22 was questioned, the State government answered that 40 per cent of the contract value had been increased. The revised estimates were also not provided in the fifth meeting of the PPA held on April 20, 2016.

The Naidu government also said State will bear the power component cost and asked the Centre to release Irrigation component funds. Following it, for 16 months, there was no PPA meeting and on September 8, 2016, project headworks estimation costs were increased and once the ‘special package’ under which cost of Polavaram project was to be funded by NABARD, the revised estimates as per 2015-16 rates were submitted. When the expert committee has visited Polavaram project between April 19 and 22, 2017, the project estimates submitted were `46,926 crore of which 32,292 crore was for R&R as per the cost estimates of 2013-14.

However, on August 24, 2017 at the 6th PPA meeting, the project estimates were mentioned as `58,319 crore. That is an increase of `11,393 crore in a span of four months. `5000 crore were increased in headworks estimations, Rs 3,500 crore increase in Left Canal estimations and Rs 1,500 crore in right canal estimations. To speed up the project works, part of the headworks were proposed to be give to another contractor.

Despite PPA officials objections, fresh tenders for those part works were called and there were variations in publication of tenders in regular and online systems.

In the 7th PPA meeting, PPA officials made it clear that revised estimates in 2016 were not approved.
The estimated cost for R&R was `33,000 crore. When the officials were questioned as to how the state proposed to implement R&R, the reply was “in a phased manner”, which makes one wonder, if the project was a national project or a state project.

CBN as usual wanted his "friends" to be well taken care of through Polavaram project tenders.
Jetli/NaMo said "nee pappuludakav" i.e "your beans wont boil" to CBN.Rest is history.

[Rahul M]

As I mentioned recently:

Poor Manik Sarkar gets poorer

Manik Sarkar, who is running for the fifth consecutive term as Tripura chief minister and probably the poorest of all the chief ministers in the country has only become poorer at the fag end of his fourth term. He doesn’t carry a mobile phone. He neither has an email account nor any social media account.

The 69-year-old CPM stalwart, who is homeless (has been staying in CM’s official quarters for 20 years now) {I read he is now living in the CPIM party office}, started off his campaign this election with just Rs 1520 cash in hand. In 2013, his affidavit said he had Rs 1080 cash in hand but was slightly better off in 2003 with Rs 3,000 cash in hand.

Kya tamasha banaake rakha hai apne aap ko....He is poor and keeps everyone poor for company. I am glad people in Tripura did not fall for this "boutique poverty" drama. There are also some commie clowns in KL like VS Achutanandan who practise this art.

dont fall for his sob story. His wife is a retd. govt officer and owns a house worth 20L. this is nothing but the age old scam of accumulating wealth in wife's name. he is not THAT poor.

[fanne]

what is the mood in WB post Tripura? Anecdotal and otherwise analysis welcomed.

[fanne]

Pappu gave an interview to Arnab before GE 2014. His handlers said, whenever there is a question, answer always - WOMEN EMPOWERMENNT.
Currently he is in Singapore, with a new answer for all questions - Do you agree India is a success story? (He asks this question, when asked any question). No Indian will say no, after that he gives a mugged up answer.
I remember, when as a kid, I was asked to mug up essay on Mahatama Gandhi. Then the teacher said, if the essay in exam is on Teacher, neighbor, uncle, leader, ideal, dream person, postman etc. say neighbor is Mahatama Gandhi and then write this essay or say postman is MG and write an essay. But that time I was all of 7 years of age. At 48 I expect better. This dude is not fit to be even a chaprasi.

[Gus]

dont fall for his sob story. His wife is a retd. govt officer and owns a house worth 20L. this is nothing but the age old scam of accumulating wealth in wife's name. he is not THAT poor.

I remember somebody saying this pre 1947 - "do you know how costly it is to keep the Mahatma poor?"

[KL Dubey]

Forget Andhra special status, it seems now it is only TDP which has "special status"...still in the NDA but not in the Union goremint (and the BJP ministers have also resigned from the TDP goremint in AP).

[KL Dubey]

Good writeup:

https://swarajyamag.com/politics/after- ... ay-be-over

[la.khan]

BJP has done poorly in RJ local body polls. Vasundhara needs to be removed. She is unpopular and BJP won assembly only on Modi wave.

RJ is most likely a lost cause. I just hope that cong just gets majority and not a 2/3rd majority.
I hope that BJP gets to keep MP and CH.

I know that RJ has 200 assembly seats and I vaguely recollect VRS/BJP had a huge majority (180+). Because of the discontent against VRS, is it possible that RJ voters give a slender majority (may be 105) to the BJP? Any chance of that?

I hate to see Cong(I) come back to power in any state

[James]

Pappu gave an interview to Arnab before GE 2014. His handlers said, whenever there is a question, answer always - WOMEN EMPOWERMENNT.
Currently he is in Singapore, with a new answer for all questions - Do you agree India is a success story? (He asks this question, when asked any question). No Indian will say no, after that he gives a mugged up answer.
I remember, when as a kid, I was asked to mug up essay on Mahatama Gandhi. Then the teacher said, if the essay in exam is on Teacher, neighbor, uncle, leader, ideal, dream person, postman etc. say neighbor is Mahatama Gandhi and then write this essay or say postman is MG and write an essay. But that time I was all of 7 years of age. At 48 I expect better. This dude is not fit to be even a chaprasi.k

I agree. Now, how do we ensure that he remains as Cong President for 2019, 2024 and beyond?

[SSundar]

What Na.Mo and Co needs to do is to expose this charlatan completely. Expose him as a Congress stooge who actively worked with Congress to mess up India's economy. If he is a foreign citizenship, bring up that fact as well. That INC was staffing high posts with people who had no loyalty to India any ways.

Uh... ya think people are gonna care, saar? You are talking about an ecosystem where you'll hardly find one person who is a citizen of just one country .

[Gus]

my own creation. Where is raghuram rajan?

[Shyamal]

what is the mood in WB post Tripura? Anecdotal and otherwise analysis welcomed.

Read my last two posts
For the first time I am getting a feel that BJP will get more than 30% votes.
And not just me - even Mamata di is seriously perturbed. TMC and CPI(M) will have a alliance from now on. All indications present.

Which is actually good for BJP. They just need a good state level leader. The current ones are useless. And no compromise and conciliatory statements from the central leadership towards Mamata, please. Mamata is a very tough and streetsmart politician and will use any opportunity.

BJP needs to be very aggressive from now on. 6 RSS boys got bitten up by 300 SFI+TMC goons todays. This is good in WB context. It shows that the party is on the streets and ready to fight. As I said earlier - unless you are ready to fight on the streets no one will take you seriously in bengal.

[SSundar]

RW Twitterati from TN are saying Annie Raja has admitted that the Periyaar statue vandalism was actually done by Francis, the CPI worker.

[chetak]

Forget Andhra special status, it seems now it is only TDP which has "special status"...still in the NDA but not in the Union goremint (and the BJP ministers have also resigned from the TDP goremint in AP).

Its like I have been saying for some time now, the BJP has developed an institutional memory under NM+AS.

naidu's tantrum throwing days are long over.

what a weak assed strategy and a cartload of pure BS, TDP ministers "resign" from the Govt, but TDP is still with the NDA.

And everybody well knows what happened to all those food grains forcibly extracted by naidu from the ABV govt and where it all eventually ended up.

naidu messed up by underestimating the chaiwalla PM by believing all the chaiwalla hype, thought that he would bully NM, just as he did with ABA and finally naidu has been cornered like a rat snake about to be devoured by a full grown and hungry King Cobra.




Chandrababu Naidu's bid to play brinkmanship game with Modi-Shah combine is fraught with risks

Chandrababu Naidu's bid to play brinkmanship game with Modi-Shah combine is fraught with risks

Ajay Singh Mar 08, 2018

Just a few months before the Lok Sabha election 2004, the BJP had held its national executive in Hyderabad to chart out the future course of action. Chandrababu Naidu was then the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was at the peak of his popularity as a "cyber CM" and a certain flamboyance that literally intimidated friends and foes alike.

His shadow loomed large even on the BJP's national executive and Naidu was in the habit of making good use of any opportunity for public relations. Knowing fully well that the national media would be in attendance in Hyderabad to cover the BJP event, Naidu sent a message that he would come to address the media. Needless to point out, Naidu hogged the limelight at the expense of the BJP executive, much to the chagrin of party strategists.

This awe for Naidu and his flamboyance was the touchstone of the coalition between the two parties. Ever since Naidu joined the NDA in 1998, he had a unique leverage with the BJP leadership, particularly with prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and home minister LK Advani. Both of them were quite indulgent towards him with the belief that BJP was constricted by its ideological limitation to go across the Vindhyas and make inroads in southern India. Moreover, the BJP once had a president in M Venkaiah Naidu who was overawed by Naidu.

Chandrababu Naidu used the BJP’s perceived vulnerability to the hilt and always exploited the situation to his advantage. Remember the manner in which Chandrababu arm-twisted Venkaiah Naidu to grant the maximum share of food grains to Andhra Pradesh even at the expense of other states. Similarly, in the corridors of power, his method of extracting the maximum from the NDA coalition government was the stuff of legend.

Back then, Narendra Modi was not a big leader as he had just taken over as the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001 and his image was sullied in some quarters by the post-Godhra riots. But Modi had keenly watched the manner in which Naidu had often been coercing the BJP leadership to fall in line in the name of the coalition even if it caused damage to the organic growth of BJP in the state. Since Modi was not in a leadership role, he did not come in the way of the party leadership’s self-limiting perception of state politics.

In playing the brinkmanship game once again now, Chandrababu might run the risk of mistaking the Modi-Amit Shah combine for the Vajpayee-Advani duo. Things have changed drastically. Unlike Vajpayee and Advani who were quite convinced of the party’s inability to grow in the south and had sought an alliance with regional groups, Modi and Shah outright reject any idea of such an affliction for the BJP. On the contrary, they believe in encouraging an organic and robust growth of the party which must not be encumbered by the coalition partners in certain states. This is the precise the reason why Shiv Sena, the oldest ally of the BJP, has been facing trouble in Maharashtra.

The Modi-Shah leadership is wary of the fact that the bad deeds of the alliance partners often hamper the growth of the BJP as it happened in Punjab. The party leadership has evolved a strategy not to be hampered by alliance partners’ incapacities. The Modi-Shah definition of coalition dharma is distinctly different from the good old days of the Vajpayee-Advani era.

At the same time, memories have also been playing a critical role in defining the contours of the new NDA coalition. Chandrababu is seen to be in the habit of running after minority votes as the election draws near. Even when the NDA lost elections in 2004 and he was routed in Andhra, Chandrababu blamed his alliance with the BJP for his defeat. However, the reality was starkly different. He lost it because of his sheer flamboyance that convinced him of his electoral infallibility under the image of a suave and cyber-savvy chief minister. His party, the TDP, badly lost in rural Andhra Pradesh while YS Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress had emerged as the new hero who subdued Naidu for a major part of a decade till his death in a chopper crash in 2009.

Apparently, Naidu’s posturing comes from his own political insecurities. Given the all-around decimation of regional parties across the country, he fears that a resurgent BJP may relegate him to an extreme background position which does not align with his usual political flamboyance of the past. And if he loses the election, he would run the risk of being a relic and be replaced by a new genre of politicians in Andhra Pradesh. The Modi-Shah duo may just have called his bluff this time. Their steadfast refusal to bend to his demands seems to show they have a plan for Andhra without Naidu.

[shyamsp]

Forget Andhra special status, it seems now it is only TDP which has "special status"...still in the NDA but not in the Union goremint (and the BJP ministers have also resigned from the TDP goremint in AP).

Its like I have been saying for some time now, the BJP has developed an institutional memory under NM+AS.

naidu's tantrum throwing days are long over.

what a weak assed strategy and a cartload of pure BS, TDP ministers "resign" from the Govt, but TDP is still with the NDA.

And everybody well knows what happened to all those food grains forcibly extracted by naidu from the ABV govt and where it all eventually ended up.

naidu messed up by underestimating the chaiwalla PM by believing all the chaiwalla hype, thought that he would bully NM, just as he did with ABA and finally naidu has been cornered like a rat snake about to be devoured by a full grown and hungry King Cobra.


Chandrababu Naidu's bid to play brinkmanship game with Modi-Shah combine is fraught with risks

Staying longer would make 2019 elections difficult for TDP to explain to AP people. Congress became 0 in the state in 2014 and BJP+NM have become 0 in last 4 years. Now with withdrawl CBN is seen as dignified politician to be reelected for next 5 years. If BJP takes YCP it is even better for TDP.

Again in AP in 2019 it is 2 local parties battling without any National parties role unlike in 2014 when there was anger against Congress and some sympathy for BJP. TDP has positioned itself to retain next 5 years also.

[chetak]

[KL Dubey]

Now with withdrawl CBN is seen as dignified politician to be reelected for next 5 years. If BJP takes YCP it is even better for TDP.

Again in AP in 2019 it is 2 local parties battling without any National parties role unlike in 2014 when there was anger against Congress and some sympathy for BJP. TDP has positioned itself to retain next 5 years also.

TDP has been steadily eroded over the years. After the bifurcation it has become a non-entity in Telangana. The YSR party ate into its votebank steadily for over a decade...he won in 2014 to large measure because of the Modi wave and the LS and VS elections being held at the same time.

Now he is reduced to begging for votes from "minorities" calling himself their benefactor "Chandranna". Whatever development and benefits have come to the poor in Andhra have been from Modi's initiatives and schemes.

It is quite possible that Naidu is heading for another 2004-like defeat, and Shah and Modi have figured this out. They have their own plans and may be OK with hanging him out to dry if he insists on it.

[Hari Seldon]

Bosted without kament (almost). Such intense hatred for anything Indic goes beyond mere lifafa-bazi. Its personal, not business...

[Chandragupta]

Ofcourse it is personal. It is not business, it has never been business. It is a war between those who hate everything that is Indic with an unparalleled vengeance and those who want to respect & preserve our Indic heritage. This Ghose bitch is anyway a Christian so that's there too. But the sheer hatred for Hindus is just humongous, can't put it in words. These people will annihilate & genocide Hindus if they get a chance. This war is real and it has been waged upon us since 1947 when that brown sahib pompous Indic hating bastard Nehru became our PM.

Modi becoming PM is not the end of this war, it is just that now the other(our) side came to play. It will culminate in Yogi as PM in 2024, mark my words and from 24 onwards, we will see clear & devastating victories over the Hindu hating brigade. Modi is digging their grave, Yogi will put them inside & bury them for good.

Jai Shri Ram

[Chandragupta]

https://twitter.com/Ram_Guha/status/971921207321702402

Apparently Vinoba Bhave called RSS 'fascists' back in 1948. Shows how deep the rot is. I am stunned why did Hindus follow Gandhi & such idiots? They marched Hindus right into the slaughterhouse and Hindus called them 'Mahatma' and 'Acharya'! Calling an organization working for Hindus 'fascists' right after Muslims divided India on basis of religion and butchered a million non-Muslims. Unbelievable.

[Sachin]

INX Media case: HC grants interim protection to Karti against ED arrest
My understanding is that Herr Karti is still in CBI remand/custody, and the court's order is only against Enforcement Directorate arresting him based on their own investigations.

[kvjayan]

https://twitter.com/Ram_Guha/status/971921207321702402

Apparently Vinoba Bhave called RSS 'fascists' back in 1948. Shows how deep the rot is. I am stunned why did Hindus follow Gandhi & such idiots? They marched Hindus right into the slaughterhouse and Hindus called them 'Mahatma' and 'Acharya'! Calling an organization working for Hindus 'fascists' right after Muslims divided India on basis of religion and butchered a million non-Muslims. Unbelievable.

No wonder, the same 'acharya' also supported Indira Grandhi's declaration of emergency calling it 'anushasan parva'!

[Hari Seldon]

INX Media case: HC grants interim protection to Karti against ED arrest
My understanding is that Herr Karti is still in CBI remand/custody, and the court's order is only against Enforcement Directorate arresting him based on their own investigations.

Terrible. But could've been way worse. Lootyens clique have won a battle and protected their own from ED's tender mercies, sure. But the war rages on.

P.S. So does that mean no narco-testing of karti? ED specializes in such things, no? And no, the chidu parivar certainly deserves what's coming to them.

P.P.S. Lest we forget, The police attack chidu ordered on Ramdev's peaceful protest camp at Ramlila maidan took lives. Chidu had a serving MI Col Purohit and later, Sadhvi pragya arrested and tortured in custody sans even a chargesheet! Boils the blood. Of course Modi ji an party took 2+ yrs to free them from the clutches of the MH ATS. Wish the same MH ATS under renovated mgmt takes farooq takla into custody and shows him some tough love ...

[Sachin]

P.S. So does that mean no narco-testing of karti? ED specializes in such things, no? And no, the chidu parivar certainly deserves what's coming to them.

As per my feeble understanding of the law; for Narco-Analysis test the consensus of the accused is mandatory. An accused criminal has every right NOT to accept a Narco-Test done on him. Karti, most likely would use this option. From a political point of view, Na.Mo & Co and just focus on bringing up more shady stories of the INC head-honchos, one after the other (so that in front of the people, these folks always remain suspected).