STATE

6|
BRIEFLY
PILGRIM RUSH
Temple authorities gear up for New Year

HYDERABAD

THE HINDU SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

Camp politics to the fore

In Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts, Congress and TDP have finalised a deal to ensure that their voters do not
cast second preference votes to any other party

T
KARIMNAGAR: With the weekend

and holidays, the pilgrims rush

had swelled considerably at Sri
Raja Rajeshwara Swamy
Devasthanam in Vemulawada of
Karimnagar district on Friday.
The devotees arrived in large
number from far-flung places of
the district and the Telangana
State to offer prayers at the
temple. They formed serpentine
queues for the darshan of the

presiding deities which took

almost more than three hours.
With the New Year
celebrations round the corner,
the devasthanam authorities said
that the pilgrims rush would
further increase during this week.
They said that they were making
all arrangements for the smooth
darshan and conduct of special
pujas for the New Year festivities.
Special Correspondent

TRAGEDY IN ADILABAD
Two buried alive in sand quarry
ADILABAD: In an unfortunate

incident two persons were buried

alive in a sand quarry near
Kannapur tanda in Indervelli
mandal on Thursday. The bodies
were found on Friday after the
relatives of the persons and the
police launched a search as they
were missing.
According to police, Jade
Laxman, aged 20 years, of

Bheempur village, and Lavudia

Suraj, aged 30 years, of Kannapur
tanda, had gone to the quarry
located about 2 km away from
the tanda to fetch sand in their
tractor.
It was believed that the walls
of the narrow quarry caved in
burying the two under a huge
quantity of mud and sand.
Special Correspondent

Haj applications to be
received from Jan. 14
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: Applications from

Haj-2016 pilgrimage would be

received by the Telangana
State Haj Committee from January 14 to February 8, Special Office of the committee
S.A. Shukoor stated here on
Friday.
In a statement, he stated
that the Haj Committee of India has finalised the action
plan for Haj-2016 and according to which qurrah (draw of
lots) for selection of pilgrims
for the Haj would be held any
time between March 15 and
23. Haj quota this year would

be allotted to States on the basis of 2011 census and it would

would benefit pilgrims both
from Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh, he noted.
The Telangana State Haj
committee would make arrangements for Haj pilgrims
from AP too, Mr. Shukoor
said, adding that the coming
Haj is fixed on September 10,
for which chartered flights
would take off from August 4
to September 5. In response to
a representation from the
State Haj Committee, panel at
national-level had dropped
the idea of providing suitcases to Haj pilgrims, he said.

N. RAHUL

he canvassing for election to

Legislative Council from local
bodies constituency ended at 4
p.m. on Friday amidst reports
that the candidates in the fray
had confined members of the
electoral college in camps at
Bengaluru, somewhere in Kerala
and Chennai.
The TRS, which is on a sticky
wicket in Khammam and Nalgonda, is said to have focussed
on first preference votes in Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts where the Congress and
Telugu Desam reportedly struck
a secret understanding to upset
the applecart of the ruling party.
The elections will be held
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday
for six seats in these four districts. The counting will take

place on Sunday.
TDP.
The TRS has already won six
The fight in Mahabubnagar
seats unanimously in Karimna- has assumed significance in
gar, Warangal, Nizamabad, Me- view of an independent V. Jagaddak and Adilabad.
ishwar Reddy remaining in fray.
Sources said the
He was said to
situation was keenly
be a close associpoised in Mahabubate of TDP candinagar and Ranga Reddate K. Dayakar
MLC
dy districts where
Reddy, who was
POLLS
two seats each will be
deliberately fieldcontested as the Coned to create confuStrategies
gress and the TDP
sion among voters
had finalised a deal to
as one of the two
see that their voters
TRS candidates aldid not cast second
so went by the
preference votes to any other name of Jagadishwar Reddy. The
party.
TDP is not found wanting in MaIf the Congress MPTC and habubnagar because it had nearZPTC members and Councillors ly 110 voters and its friendly pargave the first preference vote to ty BJP boasted of another 90
the party candidate, they will voters.
cast the second preference vote
However, the contest will be
to TDP. The same will be true of mainly between Congress with a

tally of 370 voters and the TRS

which accounted for the balance
out of the total 1,262 votes.
A former MLC S. Jagadishwar
Reddy and Mr. Kasireddy Narayan Reddy are the TRS candidates while a former Zilla Parishad chairman K. Damodar
Reddy was fielded by the Congress in Mahabubnagar.
In Ranga Reddy, the TRS reportedly aimed to win 257 first
preference votes each for its two
candidates out of the total 770
votes.
But, the Congress and TDP
are following the same strategy
as in Mahabubnagar on second
preference votes.
An independent K. Ashok
Goud, who is the president of
MPTCs forum has raised the issue of self-respect for the section in putting up a brave front.

Khammam may witness fierce battle

STAFF REPORTER
KHAMMAM: The Khammam Local
Authorities constituency, considered a
traditional bastion of the Left parties, is
poised to witness a fierce electoral
battle between the CPI and CPI (M)
common candidate Puvvada Nageswara
Rao, who is supported by the Congress
and the TDP, and the ruling TRS
candidate B. Lakshminarayana in the
MLC elections slated for December 27.
The YSR Congress with a
considerable strength of around 100
elected representatives of the total
electors of 726 in the Khammam LAC,
forayed into the MLC election arena by
fielding Lingala Kamala Raju, who joined
the party from the CPI (M), a few
months ago.
A group of the party ZPTC members
reportedly called on the party president
Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy at Idupulapaya
in YSR district on Friday.
They reportedly discussed their
electoral strategy for the MLC election
from Khammam LAC.
Two independent candidates K.
Lakshminarayana and G.
Lakshminarayana are also in the fray.
The electoral battle turned
prestigious following an entry of the CPI
heavyweight, Nageswara Rao, a twotime MLC and two-time MLA, as a
common candidate of both the Left
parties into the Council poll fray.
Both the opposition parties the

CPIs MLC candidate Puvvada Nageswara offering sweets to leaders on the occasion of Christmas in Khammam
on Friday. -- PHOTO: G.N.RAO

Congress and the TDP, which originally

won an overwhelming number of
MPTCs in the previous local body
elections, extended their support to Mr.
Nageswara Rao in the Council polls.
The two parties abstained from
fielding their candidates in a strategic
move to defeat the ruling TRS
candidate Lakshminarayana, a close
confidant of Minister for Roads and
Buildings T. Nageswara Rao.
B. Lakshminarayana, the former
MLC, had switched over from the TDP
to the TRS last year.

The CPI (ML-ND), which has little

over 30 elected representatives, has
decided to refrain from voting in MLC
polls in tune with its political line
Both the Left parties are relying on
their original numerical strength and
that of the two main opposition parties
to emerge triumphant at the husting.
The TRS leaders are working
overtime to muster the support of the
requisite elected representatives to
turn the electoral fortunes in their
partys favour.
Meanwhile, the camps being run by

various political parties in distant

places, including Ranga Reddy district
in the State and Guntur, Prakasam,
Krishna and YSR districts in the
neighbouring Andhra Pradesh
witnessed hectic political activity on
Friday.
The campaign managers of the
respective parties made elaborate
arrangements to bring their elected
representatives directly to the polling
booths on Sunday to prevent them
from falling prey to horse-trading by
the rivals.

TRS-Congress
close contest
likely
STAFF REPORTER
NALGONDA: The election of

Nalgonda local body MLC

Constituency might turn out to be
a close contest between two
major political parties candidates
though there are two other
candidates in the fray.
Political analysts are expecting
that the margin of victory will not
cross 50 votes since both the
candidates are putting all their
efforts to win the polls.
Interestingly, both the Telangana
Rastra Samithi candidate, Tera
Chinnapa Reddy and the Congress
candidate, Komatireddy Rajagopal
Reddy are claiming to have a clear
majority to win the election.
Out of the 1,110 votes, winning
candidates should get 551 votes to
win the seat. After the
announcement of local body
election results last year, the
Congress candidates had won in
550 MPTC, Municipal Councillor
and ZPTC seats and TRS managed
to win only 138 seats, while the
TDP came second with 190 seats.
As many candidates switched
loyalty to TRS after the election,
the election is neck-and-neck
contest now.
The parties are camping at Goa,
Puducherry and other places with
their supporters, as the next 24
hours before the election would be
crucial, as both the candidates
were trying to attract the votes
from the opposition party.
Meanwhile, arrangement for
elections are in place. For the first
time, the Election Commission
printed the photographs of all the
contesting candidates on the
ballot paper in the elections.
The elections will be conducted
at five divisional headquarters -Devarakonda, Bhongir,
Miryalaguda, Suryapet and
Nalgonda on December 27 from 8
a.m. to 4 p.m. While the Election
Commission is going to utilise the
services of 750 employees, a huge
number of police personnel will be
deployed for election.
Collector P. Satyanarayana
Reddy and SP Vikram Jeet Duggal
were conducting review meetings
on arrangements.

Creamy layer: BC panel chief clarifies TRS indulged in horse-trading: Revanth

STAFF REPORTER
HYDERABAD: The creamy layer

criteria, when applied to the

reservations in employment
given to BCs must exclude income from salary and income
from agriculture for all parents other than those holding
constitutional posts and high
offices in the government machinery.
The clarification, which
even the highest State government functionaries were not
aware of, came from the
Chairman of the National
Commission for Backward

Classes V. Eshwaraiah, who

submitted his latest recommendations for determination of criteria for creamy layer among BCs two months
ago. Owing to lack of understanding about the income
criterion, the 27 per cent quota was not being implemented
to its full potential, Justice
Eshwaraiah said at a press
meet on Friday.
As per the existing proposed schedule, Income (except salary and agricultural
income) from all other sources shall be clubbed/added in
respect of all the officers/em-

ployees working below the

categories I and II, which included constitutional/statutory posts and Group A/Class
I officers of the Centre and
State respectively.
Other than these, children
of even MLAs and MLCs are
eligible for quota, if parental
income is less than the prescribed limit.
If any Group B officer gets
promoted to Group A before
he attains the age of 40, then
his children will be excluded
from reservations, Justice
Eshwaraiah explained.
This puts to rest many

doubts and protests arising in

the context of the recent order by the Telangana government applying creamy layer
criterion to the Backward
Classes. Except Tamil Nadu,
all other State governments
were
implementing
the
creamy layer criterion, he
said. Admitting that he himself had not been aware of the
exclusion of salary and agricultural income till a few days
ago, Principal Secretary, BC
Welfare, T. Radha said necessary changes would be made
to the format under the noncreamy layer category.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: Telangana Telugu
Desam Party (TTDP) working president A. Revanth Reddy has charged the Telangana
Rashtra Samiti (TRS) with
fielding investors and defectors from other parties for the
forthcoming elections to the
Legislative Council under the
local authorities constituency
quota.
The TRS leadership fielded
defectors from other parties
in Medak, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda and other

The ruling party is

trying to offer
allurements to
elected
representatives of
the local bodies
districts and was indulging in
horse trading for ensuring
their victory. The ruling party
was trying to offer allurements to the elected representatives of the local bodies
in Khammam, Nalgonda and

Mahbubnagar districts, as it
did not had sufficient strength
to win the elections.
The TRS leadership is indulging in blatant misuse of
money and power to win the
elections by attracting elected representatives from other
parties, he said, appealing to
the electors to teach the ruling party a lesson by defeating
its candidates in the six seats
where election would be held.
Mr. Revanth Reddy alleged
that TRS candidates, if elected, would not be of any use to
the respective areas as they

joined the TRS in lure of occupying positions of power.

He said it was the responsibility of the election authority to take stringent action
against those committing irregularities, but the Chief
Electoral Officer remained indifferent to the gestures of the
TRS.
The TTDP had resolved to
represent the state of affairs to
President Pranab Mukherjee,
who was camping here on his
southern sojourn and was
waiting for an audience with
him, he added.

Lakhs of devotees witness Ayutha Chandi Yagam

Devotees standing in a queue to witness Ayutha Chandi Yagam at Erravalli in Medak district on Friday. (Centre) Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao receiving Thridandi Chinna Jeeyar
Swamy and (right) AP Assembly Speaker Kodela Shiva Prasad Rao. -- PHOTOS: MOHD. ARIF
STAFF REPORTER
SANGAREDDY: The third day of Ay-

utha Chandi Yagam on Friday

attracted more number of visitors compared to previous two
days and it was stated that more
than one lakh devotees from far
off places such as Warangal arrived at Yaga Sthali to witness
Yagam.
The queue line was more
than two km.
Chief Minster K. Chandrasskhar Rao and his wife Shobha
performed Raja Shyamala Homam on the third day as part of
Ayutha Chandi Yagam.
All the Ruthvijas wore white
CM
YK

dhoti and kanduva as per norms

fixed by the Sringeri Peetham.
Poornahuthi was held at Chaturveda Parayana Yaga Shala
and Raya Shyamala Yaga Shala.
Gau pooja was performed by
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao. The
Chief Minister along with his
wife Shobha entered the yaga
shala at 8.20 a.m.
After guru pooja, the devotees started coming from 7 a.m.
onwards and it continued till
late in the evening.
Thridandi Chinna Jeeyar
Swamy, Swamy Paripoornananda of Sri Peetham at Kakinada
and Madhavananda Swami of
Toguta Peetham arrived at the

Yaga Sthali participated in rituals and blessed Mr. Rao.

Earlier, they were offered
Poornakumbha.
Maharashtra Governor Ch.
Vidyasagar Rao also participated in Yagam and performed
several rituals.
The other important guests,
who attended yagam, included
Telangana Legislative Council
Chairman K. Swami Goud, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council
Chairman Chakrapani, AP Assembly Speaker Kodela Shiva
Prasad Rao, media houses heads
V. Radha Krishna, Shailaja Kiran, Girish Sanghi and Goutam
Sanghi.

VIPs told to bring less vehicles

STAFF REPORTER
SANGAREDDY: Worried over an
increasing crowd every day for the
Ayutha Chandi Yagam at Erravalli and
inconvenience being faced by the
public, Irrigation Minister T. Harish
Rao, who is closely monitoring and
receiving the arrival of VIPs, urged
them to minimise the number of
vehicles that they bring along with
them.
The VIP devotees should follow
self-restraint and reduce the number
of vehicles as well as number of

people accompanying them. This will

reduce the pressure on general public,
who are coming to have darshan of
Yagam, said Mr. Harish Rao in a
release here on Friday night.
He also asked them to leave their
footwear in the vehicles, as leaving
them at the entry point would also put
pressure on the queue lines when they
return to collect them.
Informing that devotees can have
darshan of yagasthali till 10 p.m., he
asked devotees to complete darshan
and leave the place so that others also
can have darshan.

HY-HY