Three birds at one shot!

The following article was written for Niti Central. Pasting it below for reference :) 

It was touted as a "two birds with one shot" master stroke by the Congress party. 

The nuisance of Jagan Mohan Reddy was becoming an unbearable headache to the Congress party high command. He was consistently challenging and was criticising the congress government on a daily basis. High command did not want to directly expel him - so they came up with this "two birds with one shot" plan. 

Investigation agencies swooped in on the famous "Reddy brothers" of Karnataka! They were members of the BJP and were also ministers in the then BJP led government. But how does this affect Jagan Mohan Reddy? Because the "Reddy brothers" family and the YSR family are the thickest of friends! Want proof? Brief summary is below, but you can read in detail here and here. 

The Reddy brothers first went to jail for Illegal mining in Obulapuram, a place in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh! This license was granted to them by the YSR led congress government. Not happy with this dole, YSR government allotted a massive 10,000 acres to Brahmani Steels in Cuddapah, to setup a steel plant. The Reddy brothers own Brahmani. YSR himself laid the foundation at a pompous ceremony and more than 10,000 jobs were promised within a few years.  

All these were *before* the BJP led government took oath in 2008 in Karnataka. Until the point the congress high command was fed up with Jagan Mohan Reddy, the spectre of corruption was never witnessed by agencies in either Karnataka or AP. 

The downfall began ever since for the BJP in Karnataka. More corruption cases were foisted directly on the BJP CM too. It is important to notice how YSR was never touched. The infighting in BJP led to their disastrous performance in the recent elections - proof enough of how one bird was shot. 

The second bird was Jagan Mohan Reddy. The attack on Reddy brothers did not stop him. Congress party tried to use his YSR's brother to create a split in the family, and Jagan finally left the party. A Cong MLA (who later went on to become a minister and subsequently was dropped) filed a case in High Court seeking investigations into the Jagan's assets. The result - CBI is carrying out investigations under the direction of High Court and Jagan has been in jail since the last 1 year. 

But the high command did not foresee that a third bird will also get injured - the congress party itself! 

How can you run a investigation on corruption on YSR's son when YSR was CM, and not have  ministers and functionaries of the congress not involved? The CBI first interrogated some ministers and then started filing chargesheets against one minister after the other. Now this saga of ministers being interrogated/summoned/chargesheeted/arrested has so many twists that it will put our daily serials to shame! 

6 ministers were sent notices by none other than the Supreme Court of India, asking them to explain about 26 GO's issued when they were ministers in the YSR led congress government. CBI questioned/interrogated them. The first serving minister to be arrested was Mr. Mopidevi Venkataramana. He resigned as a minister on the evening that he was arrested - and in the letter he said that he merely followed the instructions of YSR in issuing orders. This may have been the first time that a serving minister was arrested by the CBI. 

Everyone assumed that it is just a matter of time before the other 5 ministers followed suit. CBI named a second minister, Mr. Dharmana Prasada Rao (was revenue minister in YSR's cabinet, is now now R&B minister), in it's chargesheet and sought permission for his prosecution. Mr. Prasada Rao resigned, but his resignation was never accepted. 

And here's where Congress party stumped the people again! Mr. Dharmana Prasada Rao was shielded with all the government's might. In an unprecedented move, the CM bought the proposal before the cabinet that the Cabinet (and not the CM) reject the CBI's request. With this, any move by the CBI to prosecute and arrest Mr. Prasada Rao was prevented. 

Mr. Prasada Rao is a very powerful congress leader from the district of Srikakulam. Mr. Venkataramana rao is not as powerful as Prasada Rao. Congress leaders themselves mentioned that because Mr. Venkataramana Rao is a BC leader, he was made the scapegoat in this entire sordid saga - what else explains the government's determination to shield one minister whilst letting go of another when the crime they are accused of is more or less the same?!

The saga doesn't end here. Next to be chargesheeted was Ms. Sabita Indira Reddy. She was the minister for mines in the 1st YSR government. So much was YSR happy with her performance, he promoted her to the Home Minister of the state. Now, the CBI has filed a chargesheet against her under many sections, including the famed Section 420! What an irony - the custodian of the law and order in the state is chargesheeted by the CBI under Section 420! 

The AP congress government, with guidance from the high command continued to brazen this out too. She resigned and her resignation was promptly rejected. The Home Minister is now scheduled to appear before a CBI special court in June. Many ministers themselves started speaking out openly - "this is not our paap. We merely followed instructions from the then CM, YSR. What else will ministers do other than following CM's orders? We are innocent to the core, because we did not benefit." The Finance minister even went a step further and proclaimed - "For the misery that Jagan has inflicted on many families, there is nothing wrong even if he is hanged". He was appreciated by many congress leaders for this brave statement! 

And today again, the debate on corrupt ministers is revived in AP. The reason? Sonia Gandhi's "tough" action in sacking two cabinet ministers from the union cabinet. Why is Sonia Gandhi not taking a similar action against ministers in AP, who have equally charges foisted against them? Apart from the opposition, leaders of the Congress party themselves are questioning the undue delay in acting against these ministers. 

You would not be knowing most of this information if you follow the Delhi TV media that masquerades itself as "national media". In essence, somehow the AP story successfully gets killed before it reaches the TV studios. The brazenness with which the Congress party is trying to play out this saga will eventually spell doom for it -it's just a matter of time! 

God uncle, God uncle - please help Jagan uncle!

I couldn't but help translate this letter into English - this letter needs to reach the widest possible audience. Another example of the depths, Sakshi newspaper (owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy, s/o YSR) can plunge to. (Earlier examples here). 

The letter was apparently written by three students (one each in 6th, 7th and 8th class). The telugu link is here. Incase it is deleted, a snapshot of the letter is available at the end of this blog. Now please go ahead and read what these three kids have to say: 

We are very angry with God. Because he took away our God-like YSR "thatha" (thatha means grandfather). YSR "thatha" walked amidst the people, learnt about their hardships and ruled only for the people. God therefore got jealous, that "thatha" is getting more name than Himself. Is that why He took him away? We cried. Everyone in our home and village also cried. 

Sadly some people died too. Jagan uncle gave people strength - he told us not to worry because I am coming. He consoled lot of people. He likingly ate curd rice served by old women. Jagan uncle lost a lot of weight by roaming in the hot sun, just to meet all of us. His hands even got scratches because he shook them with everybody. Apparently there are some people in Delhi. They felt afraid that Jagan uncle is getting lot of name because of his travel! They arrested Jagan uncle! They are not allowing Jagan uncle to come out; they are not allowing him to get bail. 

We (us, our friends, our elders, and all poor people) want Jagan uncle to come out. We are praying to God. God uncle, God uncle, our state will benefit if Jagan uncle comes out. Atleast to get our state out of its misery, please get uncle out. 

We all love Vijayamma (YSR's wife), Bharati aunty (Jagan's wife), Sharmila akka (didi). Even if they come, we will be with them. We love the family of YS "thatha". Our hope is that they all stay happily together and our state will prosper. Please grant us our wish, God uncle! 

- Mukka Harikrishna, 7th class, Penuganchiprolu

- Tummulapalli Divya Choudary, 6th class, Kodada

- Tummalapalli Dinesh, 8th class, Kodadaa

Bye-Elections in AP: The politics over deaths

The above news item was published a day after Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI. This was published in Sakshi newspaper, that is owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy himself. The headline roughly translates:

"Hearts of 18 people stopped". 

The report details how 18 people died after hearing the news of Jagan's arrest. 

The next day, we had the below news item. 

This news item increased the number of dead to 48. 48 people died in the state of Andhra Pradesh (either suicide or due to depression/shock) because Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI. 

These two news items pretty much summarize the "politics of deaths" that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his ilk are playing in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

We (people of AP) are not new to this kind of politics. After YSR died, Sakshi flooded us with news of how 100s of people died out of shock. The last we heard, the number was pegged at about 600 people. We don't know the real number - it kept varying from 10s to 100s. 

And those were the days when Jagan Mohan Reddy was still in the Congress. He promised to meet the families of all those people who died "out of the shock/depression". He wanted the Congress High Command to give him permission for the same. Quite obviously, the permission was "denied" and he was advised to meet all the families at one place only. Jagan Mohan Reddy said it was against our culture (yes, he is the torchbearer of our culture too) to do so, and defiantly announced that he will visit the families. 

So far so good. How did he visit the families? 

Suppose he had to go to a village X in a district. He will first visit the district headquarters. From there, he will traverse all along villages A to W, before reaching the actual family in village X. Yes - he will stop at every single village. He will address a public meeting, and will formally open to the public a statue of YSR. In that public meeting, he will deride the current rule of Congress (of which he was still a member then). 

An entrouge will follow him. We will hear in Sakshi paper and channel that people are forcing him to stop at every village (A-W) before reaching X. Over a period that will range from anywhere between 1-4 weeks, he will have traveled the entire district and would have "consoled" maybe 10 families. 

This strategy will repeat in every single district. Maybe he even visited the districts twice (we would never know, for it is impossible to keep track of these visits!!). YSR died in Sept. 2009. Believe it or not, Jagan Mohan Reddy's "Odarpu Yatra" (Consolation Tour) is not yet over. He is still touring the state under the name of consoling the dead, and he is doing the exact opposite of that. 

Now, the Congress started getting uneasy. It tried to create a rift in Jagan Mohan Reddy's family. It was successful in doing that, and therefore Jagan quit the party. And from then on, there was no stopping him. And since every person who is outside the Congress automatically becomes corrupt, the law was unleashed on him. 

Jagan started using these "Odarpu Yatras" to generate sympathy for himself! The irony was stark - he was supposed to console families of those who apparently died for his father. The show was going on and on and on and on... 

In between he even resorted to 1 day and 2 days fasts on issues concerning farmers etc. Those events became a stage for him to showcase the support he has amongst MLAs. Once that purpose was achieved, another "Odarpu Yatra" was launched in another district. 

Meanwhile, a Congress minister (Shankar Rao) files a case in the High Court. The High Court orders a CBI enquiry into Jagan's wealth (the growth of which has been documented here and here). And since then, we have seen the CBI arrest Jagan's relatives, auditors, business partners, IAS officers, and ministers also! (All details about those cases, arrests are here and here). 

Jagan was accused number 1 in the chargesheet CBI filed. They arrested accused number 13 too, but not number 1! After facing flak, the CBI finally arrested him on the night of May 27, 2012. And that's what lead to 48 more deaths, which would mean Odarpu 2.0 will start when Odapru 1.0 will end (if and when it ends). 

The timing is suspect - no doubt about it. He was arrested just about 2 weeks before a crucial by-poll in AP (details of which are here). That is not my concern though. His disgusting politics over the dead is one of the worst things to happen to the state of AP, but then that doesn't seem to concern too many. They are busy with sympathizing with Jagan (for being a "victim" of politics, while all he merely did was to loot the state). They are busy eulogizing YSR for making the lives of the poor better (though they were looted too). 

Finally, the below snapshot in Sakshi newspaper exemplifies the depth to which Jagan can plunge: 

"7 year old stops eating because of CBI investigation of Jagan". 

That's all, Your Honour!: April 8-14

The first two topics this week are something on which I wanted some more time to collate thoughts and write in detail. Hence, will only passingly mention them. Hopefully will get to blog about them soon! Moving on to other happenings this week... 

1. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Right to Education Act and has also upheld the government's rule that says minority institutions are exempt from this act. More on this topic later. 

2. Also this week, 23 people were convicted in the case of post-Godhra riots. 23 others were acquitted. The Special Investigation Team set up by the Supreme Court to investigate another massacre during that time has found the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi as not guilty. More on this topic too, later. 

3. Yet again, leaders of India and Pakistan met this week! This time though, India requested Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari to accomodate a meeting with the Prime Minister during his planned private trip to Ajmer dargha. Such is our desperation to talk with Pakistan that we want to grab every available opportunity, even if the other side is not as willing. And just so that we don't feel too much outraged, the media has been fed with stories like these - the PM bought up Hafiz Saeed's case "upfront"! So what was the crying need to meet Zardari for 40 minutes? What was the crying need to arrange a lavish lunch for him? On the day, the talks happened, it looked as if nothing had yielded. And then slowly we began to see what these talks actually resulted in. India has apparently decided to open the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) gate for companies in Pakistan! While trade is good, how are we going to ensure that someone like Hafiz Saeed will not open a benami company and "invest" in India? Apparently "encouraged" by Pakistan's "pro-active steps" in improving trade, the Indian government will now further look at increasing the list of traded items too. Now the visit of the President makes a lot of sense - we wanted to get trade going. Leaders of this government and multiple commentators in the media never tire of telling us that the post Godhra riots in Gujarat should never be forgotten. The same guys also emphatically want us to move on from the multiple terror attacks perpetrated from the Pakistani soil. Some consistency these people maintain! 

4. Did you know that this UPA government still believes that there is no scam in the 2G spectrum sale? This week, this UPA cabinet okayed a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court. In this, the UPA government (technically the President is asking these questions but in reality President just acts on the advice of the cabinet) wants the SC to clarify about all spectrum allocated since 1994 !! The UPA government still continues to peddle lies that Raja merely followed the policy of earlier governments. While the name First Come First Serve (FCFS) did not change, Raja and the UPA government arbitrarily changed many by-laws thus making it totally different from originally envisaged FCFS. However, as is the norm with this government, the continue to peddle lies. Read this brilliant article in The Hindu which exposes many more such lies that are being peddled shamelessly by this government. 

Copying their reporting style...

Inspired by how NDTV framed this report, I am making an attempt to write a similar report on the recent blows to Congress in Andhra Pradesh :). The NDTV link is just one such example. Many channels/newspapers follow the same template. Following is the report.

Bad news all around for Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party. In a big blow to their government in Andhra Pradesh, the CAG has unearthed a multicrore scam in which it was claimed that undue benefit worth Rs. 1,784 crores were given to private parties that were close to former congress Chief Minister Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy. This report was tabled on the last day of the budget session of the assembly. The opposition parties claimed that they stand vindicated by this report. The opposition has been continously fighting with the Congress government over large scale corruption charges. 

In a further blow and dent to the congress party, the CBI has filed a chargesheet and named Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of former CM, late Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy as accused number 1 in a disproportionate assets case. CBI investigated this case based on directions from the High Court. CBI has also included the names of 12 other people/firms in their chargesheet filed two days back at the Nampally court. The CBI has accused Mr.JaganMohan Reddy of misusing his father's office to get undue benefits. The CBI also implied that officials were pressurised by none other than the then CM. 

Just a couple of weeks earlier, in another body blow to the congress party, the Supreme Court has issued notices to 6 ministers of Andhra Pradesh asking them to explain the reason behind issuing 26 GO's during YSR's time. These 26 GO's have benefitted companies that are close to YSR's family. It is widely believed that YSR was given a free hand to run the administration in AP by Sonia Gandhi. Many analysts believe that Sonia Gandhi has turned a blind eye to this looting by YSR and the congress party, and is now having to face the heat. 

PS: For the record, following are the news links on NDTV for the above mentioned three recent cases. 1 (note that this is a PTI report. search yielded only this link), 2 and 3. 

The 26 GO's...

Update 1 on May 25, 2012 - One congress minister arrested by the CBI last night. The minister blamed the then Congress chief minister YSR, in his resignation to the current congress chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. The arrests were based on GOs 29, 30, 31, 1110, 1115. 


The Supreme Court of India has issued notices to 6  ministers and 8 IAS officers in Andhra Pradesh, asking them to explain why they should not be interrogated by the CBI in GO's issued by them, that purpotedly favoured Jagan. 

Jagan is the son of YSR. YSR was the Chief Minister when these GO's were issued. Telugu newspaper Eenadu has published details of the 26 GO's and how they benefited Jagan. Earlier blogs on this blog detailed the corruption in AP and also how only the IAS officers are being made scapegoats. Today's GO's vindicate again why the ministers are the main culprits. 

I translated the details in english. Below pictures give you the details. Please spread this post.

The Hindu wrote today that :

"As per the present rules, a proposal for any land allotment would have to be approved by the Cabinet even if it was a small piece."

And therefore we now know that the cabinet has okayed the land deals above. I am just wondering how long the government can brazen it out! 

Tryst with MSM - Part 20 "Through BJP blinkers"

So I asked Rajdeep Sardesai this morning:

@sardesairajdeep Would like to understand something. If "indictment" of a person is major news, y is the subsequent quashing of case not?

He replied back to me through a Direct Message ( for those who are new to this terminology - I asked him the question on a public timeline. He replied back only to me.)

It was a headline. But remember, it's only one case. don't see every story through Bjp blinkers

So what is it that we are talking about?

This front page report of The Hindu today will give you a good summary.

High Court quashes FIR against Yeddyurappa

The quashing of this FIR is big news, primarily because the filing of this FIR was big news. The filing of this FIR was big news because the report on which this FIR was filed was even  bigger news.

The FIR was filed because the Lokayukta of Karnataka declared that Yeddyurappa was guilty of corruption and recommended criminal proceedings against him. Based on this report, Yeddyurappa resigned as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

The Karnataka High Court admonished the Lokayukta.  For example:

Further, there is no material produced by the Lokayukta to establish that the petitioner has done any favour to any of the alleged companies during the period 2007 to 2010.

No proof. The Lokayukta report was "leaked". These same TV channels discussed this day in and day out. They ran debates. They even questioned team Anna and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar why they are not campaigning in Karnataka as part of their anti-corruption plank. The entire news for about a day or two centered around this very report. Now the High Court says there is no case at all.

And when asked why the quashing is not as big a news as the indictment is - what do we get?

It was a headline. But remember, it's only one case. don't see every story through Bjp blinkers

For the record - The Hindu front paged this story and also mentioned that there are still other corruption cases pending against Yeddyurappa. Then why is it so difficult for these news channels to do the same? IBNlive.com does not even have a news item right now.

PS: Rajdeep Sardesai responded. Friends at NDTV didn't even bother! 

Liquor business of APCC chief...

For those of you outside Andhra Pradesh, you would probably not be knowing about the massive liquor mafia scam that is being unearthed. Recent ACB report to the court mentioned that this scam maybe worth Rs. 15000 crore!

Even if you knew the above point, there is little probability that you will know that the Pradesh congress president is also facing a lot of heat from the opposition. Mr. Botsa Satyanarayana has himself agreed that ~30 of his relatives/acquaintances have liquor shops and it is perfectly legal. Curiously, he also derided the opposition asking them why they are concentrating so much only on liquor scam, and not on other burning issues like weavers and farmers problems. The irony of the ruling party chief himself telling the opposition what to concentrate on aside, that statement showed his uneasiness.

Today, regional newspaper, Eenadu published scathing proof of Mr. Botsa Satyanarayana's (BS) invovlement in this liquor business. Mr. BS hails from the district of Vijayanagaram. The town of Vijayanagaram has 12 liquor outlets. 11 of them belong to people working in Mr. BS's industries/shops.

Some of these 11 "owners" have a white ration card. A white ration card means the government has classified you as "poor". These people have bought these liquor shops by shelling out tens of lakhs of rupees. Details below.

1. The picture below is of the house being constructed by Mr. Chelluri Chittibabu, under the "Indiramma scheme". He holds a white ration card # 0281059A0264. This "poor" man won in through an auction the bid to own "Seven Hills Wine". Since he is a "poor" man, he could buy this shop for just Rs. 99.7 lakhs. (Rupees Ninety Nine lakhs, seventy thousand only). He works in "Satya Stone Crushers" owned by Mr. BS and also looks after electrical problems at home.

2. The picture below is of the house owned by Mr. Kalisetti Lakshman Rao. He has a white ration card# 028105100082. This "poor" man works in "Satya Stone Crushers" owned by Mr. BS. And this "poor" man owns the outlet "Dhanalakshmi wines".

3. The picture below is of Mr. Vyakaranam Apparao. This "poor" man holds a white ration card. He is a worker in the Degree college owned by Mr. BS. This "poor" man won the bid for "Sri Lakshmi wines" for a partly Rs. 1.06 crores (Rupees 1 crore, sixty thousand only).

4. The picture below is of Mr. Lachireddy Achumnaidu's house. This "poor" man holds a white ration card# 022001700174. He maintains accounts of the liquor syndicate in the town. This "poor" man won the bid for "Jayalakshmi wines" for a partly Rs. 79 lakhs only.

5. The picture below is of Mr. Bandaru Swami Naidu's house. This "poor" man holds a white ration card# 0220017A0077. He maintains accounts of the liquor syndicate in the town. This "poor" man won the bid for "Vijayalakshmi wines" for a partly Rs. 89.17 lakhs only.

6. The picture below is of Mr. Majji Srinavasa Rao's house. His wife holds a white ration card#022002900003. He is an employee of "Satya Stone crushers" owned by Mr. BS. He won the bid for "Priya wines" for a partly Rs. 79 lakhs only.

The table below gives the details of the other 5. English table below the telugu one. 

In case you forgot - ACB values the scam at Rs. 15,000 crores. Mr. BS is the APCC president and a minister of the AP Cabinet. If you are also keen to know how the syndicate works, read this. And more importantly, please spread the word. 

Not unemployed anymore ...

It is not often that you wake up to such news on the front page.


State mulls dole to jobless youth


Another visionary scheme being thought over by the visionary government.

"...to pay unemployment allowance of Rs.500 for those who have passed SSC or have lesser qualification and Rs.750 to those who have Intermediate or equivalent qualification. Graduates and other professionally qualified are likely to be paid Rs.1,000 a month. "

So, if you pass 10th - earn Rs. 500/- per month without doing anything. If you pass Intermediate, earn Rs. 750/- without doing anything.

Apparently, this scheme is being designed to attract youth towards the congress party! If this does not amount to bribing the unemployed youth to vote for the congress, then what exactly is this?

And from whose pocket this money will come from? Ours - the tax payers. Yesterday, our visionary Chief Minister also said that collecting tax was similar to bees sucking honey without disturbing the fabric of the flower (or something similar to this) - essentially he is saying, we will suck as much as possible from you, the tax payer. Please shut up and pay!

He actually said "Taxes were collected without hurting people". Yeah right!

There just seems to be no end to this ruthless spending of money by the government. As fellow tweeter pavanvoice called it - this is "youth pension" !

That's all, Your honour!: Feb. 19-25

1. Last week, we were talking about the Italian navy personnel firing at and killing two of our fishermen off the Kerala coast. After "deliberations", the police could finally get to arrest the two nay personnel. And common sense suggested that the matter ends here, and the courts will take over from now on. However, Italy tried to work some "back-channels" to see how their personnel can be released. You can't blame Italy for doing that though. One of the "back channels" that Italy was working on was this - "...the Catholic channels via the Vatican to allow the two marines to leave for Rome after paying some compensation to the families of the killed fishermen".

Now, this caught our attention - given that this was printed in the front page news of The Hindu. And then the earlier statement of recently appointed Cardinal from India, Alencherry (who happens to be from Kerala) gained importance. He apparently said (which ofcourse was "misquoted" according to him) that " Kerala Government should not act precipitately against the Italian marines" and also said "he was in constant touch with the ‘Catholic Ministers’ in Kerala’s Congress-led Government". What can be more shameful and disgraceful than this? A couple of our citizens are killed, and here we have officers of the Church taking the opposite side of our citizens? Why should the Church get involved at all in this? Thankfully, other church officials in Kerala derided this statement by the Cardinal. There is still talk about giving monetary compensation in exchange for the nay personnel. If that happens, remember who worked that option out - the "catholic channel". However, the Indian government is crystal clear that the courts are the only competent authority to handle this case now. 

2. The Liquor scam in AP is turning out to be huge. The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has submitted to the court that the Liquor scam in AP is worth Rs. 15,000 crores! I am pretty sure, if you are outside AP you wouldn't have heard about this news, given the "national" media's obsession with other important things! A dealer being questioned in this case has also said that the excise minister himself brokered a deal between him and another dealer. The dealer also said that he paid Rs. 10 lakh bribe to the minister directly. As usual, the minister denied it. However, what is even more disturbing is that the minister and many other leaders are rubbishing this of as a conspiracy against a BC leader!! The CM has also brazened it out and decided to support the minister fully. Now, we surely know how the case is going to end up! The state congress chief has himself agreed that ~30 of his relatives are in this business. A telugu newspaper claims to have accessed the report and tells us that 20 ministers, 140 MLAs amongst thousands of others are involved in this scam! Yet - all we have to tall talk - no action. This article explains neatly how this syndicate works - it is a must read to understand this scam. 

3. Kingfisher airlines is in big trouble. The I-T department has frozen it's bank accounts and therefore Kingfisher is not able to make any payments. The result - many flights stand cancelled. Kingfisher is due a lot of money in taxes to the government, and their mounting losses haven't helped their cause either. But here is a must read article - "The Curious Case of Vijay Mallya and his bailout. And one more scam!" . Please read that exhaustive article to see how Vijay Mallya and the government colluded to rob our money! 

4. And finally, did you think that the 4.5% minority quota within the 27% OBC quota was restricted to jobs only? You are mistaken - now the supposedly premier educational institute in India, the IIT has decided to give 4.5% reservation for minorities within the 27% OBC quota. That's all, your honour! 

That's all, Your honour!: Feb.5-11

1. The Law minister of our country, Shri Salman Kursheed revealed this week that when they showed pictures of the Batla house encounter to Sonia Gandhi, her eyes were full of tears. He even told us that she told him that she cannot look at these pictures and suggested to them that they show these pictures to the Prime Minister. So what is this Batla house encounter? Wikipedia page gives the full details - but here's the summary - In September, 2008, Delhi police recieve a tip-off that one of the terrorists they are looking for is in an apartment in Batla House. They go there to capture him, but face fire. They retaliate, and fighting ensues. Police Inspector Mohan Sharma lays down his life. Two terrorists are killed. A third one escapes. 

As with all encounters, we now have "human rights activists" all over the place. And since the terrorists were muslims, now we have politicians of all hues competing with each other to claim that this encounter was fake and an enquiry has to be ordered. The Delhi High Court orders the National Human Rights Commission to probe. NHRC submits a report saying the encounter is genuine. Delhi High Court accepts the report. Our politicians are still not satisfied. The then president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, Salman Kursheed even led a delegation to the Prime Minister. 

The Home Minister, as recently as last month, has again confirmed that the encounter is genuine. In his own words - "every authority who has looked into it (the case), has agreed that it was a genuine encounter. ". Please note - "every authority". And much to the disappointment of many folks, the encounter and its subsequent verification have all been done under the aegis of the congress government and not any BJP government. 

For his bravery, Inspector Mohan Sharma was awarded the Ashok Chakra - highest peace time gallantary award. Previously, he was the recipient of many presidential medals. Salman Kursheed later went to become the Law Minister of our country (and continues to be). In this position, he has access to more facts than as the president of non-descript UPCC. The Home minister and Prime Minister of this country have no doubt that the encounter was genuine and inspector Mohan Sharma is a martyr who sacrificed his life in the line of duty. Erudite commentator, Praveen Swami gave a befitting reply to all those who questioned the encounter, back in 2008 itself! How befitting is it for the Law Minister to rake up this issue again? How can he belittle this brave sacrifice of inspector Mohan Sharma? How can he contradict the stand of the very government that he is part of? And is it true that Sonia Gandhi cried? If so, why did she cry? If not, why is the Law minister of this country lying to us? These are all serious questions - not something that can be brushed aside. 

These issues are being raked up to garner the muslim vote. First it was 9% reservation for them. When the EC "censured" him, he challenges EC further saying even if they hang him, he will fight for muslim reservations. Is this the language the Law minister of this country should use? Quite understandably, a miffed EC wrote to the President of India. Be rest assured, no further action will be taken! 

2. Politics in Andhra Pradesh as hotting up every passing week. If last week, it was about the revolt of IAS officers, this week it is all about the ministers. The chief minister undertook a cabinet expansion. It was reported that he even wanted to take up a major reshuffle of portfolios. However, the high command was not keen about the reshuffle given that the Budget session of assembly will begin next week. Ministers need to be well prepared to face questions from members for any session - hence this move made sense. And here's where the CM gives the twist. He takes away the agriculture portfolio from the deputy CM and awards it another minister. He splits up the medical, health and medical education portfolio and gives it to a new minister! If reshuffle was stopped to help ministers be better prepared, then why was Agriculture shifted? Is it an indication of the seriousness of this CM? Or mere politics blinded him to the effect of changing the agricultural minister a week before the budget session? The other minister, D.L.Ravindra Reddy upped his tempo against the Chief Minister. Yet, the high command persuades him to continue! Only in this state, do we regularly see the spectacle of ministers taunting the Chief Minister! 

Amidst all this, the Anti Corruption Bureau report on liquor mafia in the state named the excise minister! A trader told the ACB that he paid Rs. 10 lakhs bribe to the minister! And this was enough for another storm to begin. Regional media even reported that the PCC chief was angry with the CM for leaking this report! As always, after a furore of 2 days, the minister still continues to hold his position. Liquor mafia continues to loot, and the people have no choice left but to grin and whine. 

3. But the corruption of ministers mentioned above did not capture "national" attention. Three Karnataka ministers were caught watching a porn video in the assembly! Apparently one minister clicked on a link sent in an e-mail and that turned out to be a porn video. Within 12 hours, the ministers were asked to resign and resign they did. This did not satisfy the "national" media - especially the TV media. They had endless meaningless discussions on the whole sordid affair. Then newspapers followed suit with editorials - for about 48 hours, this seemed to be the only real issue bothering the country! What a pity that our discourse stoops to such levels. Meanwhile, DNA reports that ~40MLAs belonging to all parties watched that video in the assembly - however a TV grab is available only of the ministers! 

4. And finally, the army chief age row came to an end. The Supreme Court has observed that the chief has to agree to his earlier committment, wherein he agreed to abide by the 1950 date of birth. The army chief then withdrew the petition. This article captures some intricate details of whether there was conspiracy in dealing with the date of birth. Must read for a different perspective! That's all, your honour! 

In solidarity with the IAS officers...

An earlier blog detailed how only officers are being held responsible for massive corruption scams in Andhra Pradesh. After that blog was posted, CBI filed its chargesheet in the EMAAR Land scam. In it's chargesheet, it named two serving IAS officers and a retired IAS officer. One officer, L.V.Subramaniam, is currently the Executive officer of TTD and was the MD of EMAAR when the initial deal was signed. 

Couple of days after this chargesheet was filed, IAS officers were up in arms against this tirade by the CBI. More than 70 officers met the CM and complained to him about the witch hunt by CBI. They questioned him as to how fair is to blame only the officers while most of the decisions were political in nature. Later, the IAS officers explained the curious case of Mr. Subramaniam being chargesheeted when the entire Board was party to the decision with the chairman of APIIC (who is a politician) signing the minutes of meeting too! 

The IAS officers merely demanded that the principles of natural justice be followed. Sadly for them, they are being led by a Chief Minister who cannot do anything about this. Apparently, the CM promised that he will see to it that "honest" officers are not subject to this tirade! What about the "honest" ministers in your cabinet, Mr. Chief Minister? Well, let's not get into that now. 

It is common knowledge in AP that where there is land, there is a scam. Allegations fly thick and fast amongst political parties on who made more money. That kind of fight is expected. 

However, what is disturbing (and frankly disgusting) is that members of this cabinet openly accuse Jagan Mohan Reddy of corruption. As recently as two days back, none other than the state Finance minister had this to say - "Those who looted the State are busy going around in the name of ‘yatras' " This finance minister was a minister in the YSR cabinet too. The congress chief of the state keeps on harping that Jagan looted a lot of wealth. So you see, the ruling party is itself agreeing to massive corruption yet is distancing itself from it ! 

Amidst this background, I totally express solidarity with the IAS officers. None of the scams that the CBI is probing could have happened without a go from the relevant political authority. If the officer is guilty, so is the political authority (minister, chairman, CM etc). If Ms. Srilakshmi is guilty of allotting land for mining, then so is the then mines minister, Ms. Sabita Indira Reddy. How fair is it that Ms. Srilakshmi is in jail and Ms. Sabita is the Home Minister of the state? How fair is it that Mr. Subramaniam is accused but not the then chairman? Many such questions - but the common thread is the same - the political authority led by YSR created this monster. 

What is the result of this? "Decision making takes a hit in the state" !

Sadly, they apparently decided to petition the Prime Minister. We all know that both this Prime Minister and Chief Minister are not strong enough to pursue this any further - there is a higher authority that is driving this case! 

In this fight, I wish to again express my solidarity with the IAS officers - they are not the only ones guilty. 

That's all, Your honour! : Jan 29 - Feb 4

This week is truly a "That's all, your honour" week, given that we will talk only about multiple Supreme Court Judgments! 

1. In a landmark historic decision, the Supreme Court cancelled all 122 licenses granted by the UPA government (some say, granted by A. Raja but there is no difference in my view) in 2008. The court has said that this sale was "illegal" and was a very good example of arbitrary use of power. Despite such severe stricutres, the pompous Kapil Sibal again decided to brazen it out. He falsely informs the countrymen that the UPA government just followed the NDA policy of First Come, First Serve (FCFS). The journalist who single handedly pursued the 2G scam since beginning, J. GopiKrishnan of the Daily Pioneer lists out the entire timeline here - it is amply clear that no FCFS was followed by UPA. Kapil Sibal then goes on to demand that the BJP apologise to the nation for such a flawed policy! If there was any proof left of the vaccum in UPA's line of thinking, then this was it! Read the full judgement here - if this is not a severe indictment of the functioning of government, then what else is, your honour? 

2. The second case in the court that we will discuss now is the army chief age row. An earlier blog gives the background here. This week, the matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court. Guess what - SC again raps the government! It has become a daily occurence now! Infact in this case the SC said that the "government decision-making process went against the principles of natural justice and the Constitution". Again this is also not a serious thing for the government! The Supreme Court gave the government two options - either they withdraw their order or the court will quash it! Yet, the government thinks there is no setback. The court will again meet next week to continue further hearings on this matter. Thankfully, Kapil Sibal has not spoken on this topic yet. 

3. The third case is related to Dr. Subramaniam Swamy asking the court permission to prosecute the Home Minister, P. Chidambaram in the 2G scam case. Dr. Swamy's argument is that as the then Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram was involved in the pricing of the spectrum and also in the decision to allow some companies to dilute their shares. Dr. Swamy therefore wanted the court to direct the CBI to probe PC too. The trial court dismissed his petition this week. Quite curiously, the court agreed with Dr. Swamy (because ofcourse he produced proof) that PC was indeed part of the decisions but there is no proof of malafide intention on PC's part, and therefore he need not be probed. Dr. Swamy is contesting this decision in the higher court. There are some inherent contradictions in various verdicts. SC says that the pricing is arbitrary but another court thinks that those who arrived at that arbitrary pricing are not guilty! Surely, the legal battle has not yet ended - this is just the beginning :) 

4. And finally, the Supreme Court has set a time limit for governments to sanction prosecution withing 3 months. This judgment was arrived because Dr. Swamy filed a case asking the court to set-up a time frame because the PM took 16 months to reply to his petition asking for permission to prosecute A. Raja! The judgment severly criticised the PMO for misleading the PM. The PM was very happy that though his office was indicted, he has been vindicated! Whatay leadership, your honour!

The cases of being "misled/misguided" etc

Case 1: 

Yesterday in Andhra Pradesh, the Principal secretary for Home, Mr. B.P.Acharya was arrested by the CBI for his role in a scam. He was sent to a jail of which he is technically still the incharge (to suspend an officer, he/she has to be under custody for a minimum of 48 hours). Anyways, the irony aside, there are some issues that I wish to discuss here. 

B.P.Acharya has been charged with "criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption". As Managing Director of the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, he has been accused of about 20 offences - primarily saying he has "ditched" APIIC and caused immense loss and more importantly of keeping the APIIC board "in the dark". 

You see, I have a problem with "in the dark" accusation. APIIC is headed by a politician. APIIC is "vested with the objective of providing industrial infrastructure through the development of industrial areas" - which means that APIIC provides land (real estate) for private developers for "industrial development". Essentially, if one is inclined, this is a money making machine - given the large tracts of real estate involved. 

Now let's come to the present case. APIIC entered into an agreement with EMAAR for developing a township, golf course and convention centre. According to the deal, APIIC was to get a 26% share. This was in 2003. After YSR became the CM, one of his trusted lieutanants, Ambati Rambabu was made the chairman. Mr. B.P.Acharya, an IAS officer was made the Managing Director. After these appointments were made, some astute machinations by those in power ensured that that APIIC share dropped to 5-6%! That's right - from 26 to 6%. 

Another accusation is that plots were sold at a much higher value than what was shown on paper. On paper, they were sold for Rs. 5000 per sq.yard. But money was collected to the tune of 50,000 per sq yard. And according to the CBI - " the accused collected a sum of nearly Rs.138 crore by selling the plots at inflated rates to the customers, who include several top politicians, professionals, film actors and industrialists."

Now, let's add up everything. CBI says that an IAS officer pocketed so much money by selling lands at such high rates to "top politicians" etc. In today's world of instant connectivity, are we to freaking believe that the politicians heading APIIC were clueless about this loot? CBI says the board was "kept in dark" about dilution of shares. Are we to freaking believe that in today's world of information overdrive, the board was so incompetent to not know that the shares were being diluted? 

Ambati Rambabu, the chairman of APIIC was merely let off after questioning. Ambati Rambabu is now the voiceferous spokesman of YSR Congress party led by Jagan. YSR's best friend, his soul mate, K.V.P.Ramachandra Rao was merely questioned. Before making any further arguments I would like to present case 2.

Case 2: 

You all must have been bored to death listening to the "illegal mining" of the Reddy brothers in Karnataka. You must have also been bored to death by news channels covering their arrest. Now, while covering their arrest - the news channels missed a minor detail. He was arrested for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh, not Karnataka! Now, what does that mean? That means, the Andhra Pradesh government gave the Reddy brothers permission for this illegal mining. This illegal permission was given in 2005, which means YSR was the Chief Minister. It is a known thing that the families of YSR and Reddy brothers are very close. Now, which department has to give permission for this mining? Technically the central government has to agree, based on recommendations by the state government. 

Congress party took up this case to serve two purposes - one is that by arresting Reddy brothers, they can cause damage to the BJP in Karanataka, and simultaneously hurt Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. Now, the Reddy brothers are arrested. Next in line should logically be the minister who recommended the grant of the lease, right? 

Here's where CBI stumps you! It arrested the IAS officer incharge then. The IAS officer places the blame on the then minister of Mines, Sabita Indra Reddy (who is now the Home Minister). The IAS officer says she merely worked under the influence of the minister. CBI vehemantly disagrees with this - tells the court that the minister is not at all at fault. It tells the court the minister was "misguided" by the IAS officer. The minister goes on to say that she signed the file to "help the poor" and tells changes were made the original file she signed! 

You see, YSR's close proximity to Reddy brothers had no bearing on the issued G.O. The reason YSR put up a dummy candidate like Sabita was to ensure such files get through - yet that is of no importance to this case. The IAS officer acted only in connivance with the Reddy brothers to grant them the license. And we don't even hear anything about the central government officers in this case! 

So, basically again it is all the officers fault - no congress politician had anything to do with any of these scams. 

Cases 3, 4, etc

The ISRO fiasco is too recent to be recounted. A blog two days back details it here. Suffice it to say that the government again said that the Scientists at the helm "misled" it. Many articles have derided this action and questioned as to how the PMO can remain in the dark. 

We have also heard before that A. Raja misled the PM on 2G scam. Editor of CRI summarised it beautifully - 

"PMO formidable institution with mechanism to be alerted on massive economic crimes How then people suffer lie that MMS didnt know a damn?"

It is nothing but a blatant lie that is being imposed upon us when they say that the "minister did not know", "the CM did not know", "the PM did not know". Our system is so designed that the political authority has all necessary information at their disposal. Unless the political head is extremely dumb, it is impossible not to get a hang of massive scams happening under his/her watch. Officers merely follow orders (in such cases, mostly oral I guess) in coming up with "deals" that will help the political heads. While it can be debated whether officers should blindly follow such orders, it is a travesty of justice and insult to our intelligence when officers and only officers are arrested for such massive loot scams. 

Lastly, fellow tweeter and blogger asked if any English TV media covered the arrest of IAS officers. They did - here's a tweet from Rajdeep Sardesai. 

Bad day for IAS: senior officer arrested in Andhra for corruption; IAS officer's wife arrested for slapping cop in B'lore

Not a word on the actual case. Ofcourse not! 

PS: This blog earlier documented the massive corruption in AP, in three parts (1, 2 and 3) .