STATE

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HYDERABAD

THE HINDU THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015

Joy of TRS limited to four seats

BRIEFLY

Ruling party wins in RR, Khammam, Mahabubnagar while Congress bags one each in Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar
N. RAHUL
he joy of ruling TRS was curtailed as it won four but lost two
to the Congress in the elections
to six seats of Telangana Legislative Council from local bodies
constituency that took place on
Sunday and the results of which
were declared on Wednesday.
The TRS won two seats in
Ranga Reddy and one each in
Khammam and Mahabubnagar
while the Congress won one seat
each in Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar. The TRS had already won
six seats unanimously in Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad,
Warangal and Medak districts.
With this, the strength of TRS
in the 40 member House went
up to 26 while the Congress officially has ten, Majlis Ittehadul
Muslimeen two and
the BJP and Telugu
Desam one each.
Two members of the
COUNCIL Congress and the
one of TDP
ELECTION lone
switched loyalty to
The winners TRS.
The TRS winners
today
included
Transport Minister
P. Mahender Reddys brother Narender Reddy
and Shambhipur Raju from Ranga Reddy, an educationist Kasireddy Narayan Reddy in Mahabubnagar and a sitting MLC
Balasani Laxminarayana in
Khammam.
The Congress winners comprised former Bhongir MP Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy in
Nalgonda and the former Zilla
Parishad chairman K. Damodar
Reddy in Mahabubnagar.
Mr. Rajagopal Reddys brother
and Nalgonda MLA Venkat Reddy had recently declared that he
would quit politics if his sibling
did not win and dared Chief
Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao
to do the same in the event of
TRS losing.
The contest in the four districts where the polls were held
was bitter with the TRS and the
Congress organising camps for
the electorate in other States to
keep their flock together.
The results finally threw up a
surprise for TRS in Mahabubnagar as its sitting MLC S. Jagadeeshwar Reddy was defeated.
TRS sources attributed his defeat to the failure of Health Minister C. Laxma Reddy who was
in-charge of the election to wield
influence on the voters.
On the other hand, the victory
of the Congress candidate owed
to a secret understanding with
the TDP. The TRS overcame the
challenge of Congress candidate
A. Chandrasekhar, a former Minister, in Ranga Reddy reportedly
due to internal conflict in Congress.

YSRC puts up
good show in
Khammam

HIGH-PROFILE EVENT
President hosts At Home
HYDERABAD: President Pranab

Mukherjee hosted At Home to

VIPs at Rashtrapathi Nilayam at
Bolarum on Wednesday, a day
prior to his departure to New
Delhi on conclusion of his twoweek southern sojourn.
Mr. Mukherjee went round and
personally greeted every guest as
they stood up in a line when he
approached them. The customary
high tea event began at 5 p.m.
with the President, flanked by
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and
his wife Vimala, and Telangana
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar
Rao, on the other side.
Other guests included

Legislative Council Chairman K.

Swamy Goud and his wife,
Deputy Chief Ministers Kadiam
Srihari and Mohd. Mehmood Ali,
and other Cabinet Ministers,
including Naini Narsimha Reddy
(Home), Jupally Krishna Rao
(Industries), Jogu Ramanna
(Forests), and K. Laxma Reddy
(Health).
The Congress was represented
by Leaders of the Opposition
Mohd. Ali Shabbir (Council) and
K. Jana Reddy (Assembly),
Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary
I.Y.R. Krishna Rao and Telangana
Director-General of Police Anurag
Sharma, among others.

EXAM ON APRIL 24, 25

TSPSC issues notification for Group II jobs
HYDERABAD: The much awaited

Group-II notification has been

issued by the Telangana State
Public Service Commission
(TSPSC) and the exam is
scheduled on April 24 and 25.
The number of posts may not
enthuse the candidates much, as
only 439 posts have been
announced. These include
Municipal Commissioner Gr.III in
(Municipal Administration Sub
Service19), Assistant
Commercial Tax Officer
(Commercial Tax Sub-Service
110), Sub-Registrar Gr.II
(Registration Sub-Service-23),
Extension Officer (Panchayat Raj
and Rural Development Sub
Service 67) and Prohibition and
Excise Sub Inspector 220.

At the same time, 311 posts of

Agriculture Extension Officer
Grade-II in the Department of
Agriculture Sub-Service have also
been announced. Two more
notifications with 44 posts in
Technical Grade-II in Hyderabad
Metropolitan Water Supply &
Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) and
two posts of Deputy General
Manager (Finance) in the same
department have also been
released.
The detailed notification will
be available on www.tspsc.gov.in
from December 31, a press
release from the TSPSC said. The
last date for submitting online
applications for Group-II is
February 9, 2016 while the last
date for agriculture posts is
January 25, 2016.

Works for redesigned

Thotapalli begin

Minister for Major Irrigation T Harish Rao performing bhumi

puja for Thotapalli project works in Karimnagar district on
Wednesday. -PHOTO: BY ARRANGEMENT.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
KARIMNAGAR: The State govern-

ment has launched works for

the redesigned Thotapalli balancing reservoir in Thotapalli village of Bejjanki manal
across the SRSP flood flow
canal in Karimnagar district
on Wednesday.
Minister for Major Irrigation T Harish Rao formally
laid foundation stone for the
redesigning of the balancing
reservoir at a cost of Rs. 30.64
crore in the presence of ZP
chairperson Tula Uma, Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar,
MLCs Naradasu Laxman
Rao, and T Bhanu Prasad
Rao, MLA Rasamyi Balakishan, Collector Neetu Prasad
and others.
Speaking on the occasion,
the Minister clarified that the
completion of the redesigned
reservoir would ensure irrigation sources to 52,000 acres

through gravity. Refuting the

claims about the opposition
parties for alleging that the
project was abandoned, he
said that earlier project was
designed to provide irrigation sources to only 49,000
acres and there was submergence of more than 3,000
acres and five villages. Even
the project cost was Rs 1,050
crore, he stated.
The redesigned project
will not submerge villages
and agricultural lands. Instead, the project would be
completed in Rs. 150 crore
only thus saving the exchequer to the tune of over Rs.
1,000 crore, he maintained.
He said that the Thotapalli
balancing reservoir would
have water throughout the
year from the Mid Manair
Dam and the Pranahita-Chevella project so that the farmers can take up two crops in a
year.

P SRIDHAR

TRS Ranga Reddy candidates Shambhipur Raju and Patnam Narendar Reddy in a victory rally after they were
declared elected in Hyderabad on Wednesday. -PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF

Congress victory margin surprises all

T. KARNAKAR REDDY
NALGONDA: More than the defeat
of TRS candidate in Nalgonda
local authorities constituency
election, it was the Congress
candidates victory margin that
took everyone by a surprise.
Congress candidate
Komtireddy Rajagopal Reddy
defeated TRS candidate Tera
Chinnappa Reddy by a huge
margin of 193 votes.
The Congress was having
550 votes that include the
ex-officio members, but at least
a 100 MPTCs, ZPTCs and
Municipal Councillors had
switched loyalty to TRS during
the past one-and-half year.
Except Communist Party of
India, which was having just 28
votes, no other party had
openly offered support to

Congress while majority

leaders of TDP, which had 193
votes, offered support to
Mr.Chinnapa Reddy.
The political analysts said
that majority of the Congress
local body's representatives,
who switched loyalty to TRS,
had voted to Congress again,
their mother party. Before the
election, it appeared that even
securing the magic mark of 551
would be a tough task for
Congress, but they got 91 votes
more than the magic mark. The
combined effort of senior
Congress leaders, PCC
president N. Uttam Kumar
Reddy, party floor leader in the
Assembly, K. Jaana Reddy,
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy,
Palvai Goverdhan Reddy,
Gutha Sukhendar Reddy and
Ramireddy Damdodar Reddy

helped Mr. Rajagopal Reddy

secure the massive victory.
Sources said that the senior
Congress leaders were in talks
with Congress local body
representatives even after they
defected to TRS and this paid
rich dividends.
It appeared that the rivalry
between two groups within
TDP also helped Mr. Rajagopal
Reddy. While one group in
TDP openly supported Mr.
Chinnapa Reddy, who
switched loyalty from TDP to
TRS after the last general
elections, another group
remained silent. Komatireddy
brothers good relations with
YSR Congress leadership,
which had 12 votes and their
experience dealing the
elections also worked in their
favour.

Luck eludes Chinnapa Reddy once again

STAFF REPORTER
NALGONDA: Electoral victory once
again eludes the industrialistturned politician Tera Chinnapa
Reddy, who suffered a third
straight defeat since 2009.
Mr. Chinnapa Reddy, who owns
Srini Pharmaceuticals Limited,
had joined in Telugu Desam Party
(TDP) before 2009 general elections and contested against the senior Congress leader K. Jana Reddy
from
Nagarjunasagar

Assembly Constituency.
Mr.Chinnapa Reddy had lost
the election with a slender margin
of 6,000 votes.
Undeterred by the defeat, he
had built himself as a leader in Nagarjunasagar constituency by regularly visiting the villages with an
intention to take on Congress
heavyweight Mr. Jana Reddy in
2014 general elections.
Surprisingly, the TDP leadership, which forged an alliance
with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),

had shifted him from Nagarjunasagar Assembly Constituency to

Nalgonda Parliament Constituency.
Huge margin
Taking on another senior Congress leader Gutha Sukhendar
Reddy, he lost the election with
about two lakh margin.
Following the States division,
Mr.Chinnapa Reddy joined TRS
in a pursuit of better political future as the TDP was slowly losing

STAFF REPORTER
KHAMMAM: The ruling TRS bagged
the MLC seat in the keenly fought
election for the Khammam Local
Authorities Constituency (LAC)
upsetting the calculations of the
CPI and the CPI (M) alliance,
backed by the Congress and the
TDP, to win the prestigious seat
on their combined strength.
The TRS candidate and former
MLC, Balasani Lakshminarayana,
trounced the CPI-CPI (M) joint
candidate Puvvada Nageswara
Rao by a margin of 31 votes.
The CPI heavyweight Mr Nageswara Rao, the two-time MLC
and two-time MLA, lost narrowly
in the keenly contested election
from Khammam LAC, known as
traditional stronghold of the Left
parties.

Non-participation
The non-participation of the
CPI (ML-New Democracy)s 29
local body elected representatives as per their partys political

Mr.Lakshminarayana
and
Mr.Nageswara Rao secured three
and ten second preference votes
respectively increasing their tally
to 316 and 285 in the fourth round.
The fifth round saw the exit of
Mr Nageswara Rao as per the
elimination process of counting,
following which Mr Lakshminarayana was declared elected.

CPI-CPI (M) joint candidate Puvvada Nageswara Rao coming out of

the election counting centre at the Ambedkar Bhavan in Khammam
on Wednesday. -PHOTO:G.N.RAO

line and the good show by the

YSR Congress in the MLC poll
seems to have worked against the
electoral fortunes of the CPI

strongman, political observers

feel. While Mr Lakshminarayana
polled 313 votes, Mr Nageswara
Rao got 275 in the first count.

Impressive show
The YSR Congress contestant
L Kamal Raj stood third with an
impressive 102 votes. Two independents G Lakshminarayana
and K Lakshminarayana drew a
blank.
One vote was polled under the
None of The Above (NOTA)
category and another vote was
declared invalid.
A total of 692 electors exercised
their franchise in the Sundays
MLC poll for the Khammam LAC,
the results of which were declared on Wednesday.
The TRS cadres celebrated the
victory of the party in the MLC

A year that made Hollywood sit up

SWATHI V.

SURESH KRISHNAMOORTHY

HYDERABAD: Telanganaku Haritha Haram, a giant leap by the

newly formed Telangana
State towards improving its
green cover, proved to be just
a baby step vis--vis the ambitious target set by the government for the closure of the
year, yet inviting severe criticism from certain quarters.
Nonetheless, close to 10
crore saplings were planted
just in three to four months of
scanty rainfall, laying a strong
foundation for the afforestation drive monitored personally by the Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao.
Launched by Mr. Rao on July 3 this year, the programme
envisaged state-wide plantation of 40 crore seedlings by

CM
YK

Multi-pronged approach
The objective was sought
to be achieved through a multi-pronged approach of rejuvenating degraded forests,
ensuring effective protection
against smuggling, encroachment, fire, grazing and intensive soil and moisture conservation measures.
Massive plantation was
aimed at as part of social forestry, in the form of avenue,
river side and canal bank
plantation, tank bunds and
foreshore areas, institutional
premises, religious places,

its ground in Telangana.

He also expressed his willingness to contest from NalgondaWarangal and Khamma Graduates Legislatives Council Constituency, but the TRS chose Palla
Rajeshwar Reddy, who won the
election held in March this year.
For the third time , luck was not
with Mr.Chinnapa Reddy as he
suffered another massive defeat in
the local authorities Legislative
Council election here on
Wednesday.

TRS win upsets calculations of Left alliance

Haritha Haram: afforestation vs. displacement

the year-end, and 230 crore at
the end of four years, towards
the target of increasing the
States forest cover to 33 per
cent from the earlier 24 per
cent.

KHAMMAM: Unfazed by a string of

desertions the party had suffered
in the past one year, the YSR
Congress has put up a good show
in the MLC election for the
Khammam Local Authorities
Constituency, the results of
which were declared on Wednesday.
The party has managed to keep
its flock together as is evident
from the outcome of the keenly
fought MLC election, in which its
candidate L Kamal Raj polled 102
votes, securing the third place in
the prestigious electoral battle.
The keenly fought election saw
the narrow defeat of the CPI-CPI
(M) joint candidate Puvvada Nageswara Rao, backed by the Congress and the TDP, at the hands of
the TRS candidate B Lakshminarayana.
This has triggered a heated debate in the political circles with
the CPI local leaders indirectly
blaming the YSRC for going it
alone in the election, which they
alleged paved the way for the victory of the ruling TRS in the MLC
election from Khammam LAC.
Rebutting the allegations, the
YSRC district president and Pinapaka MLA Payam Venkateshwarlu said his party distanced itself from the opposition parties
alliance as the TDP was part of it.
Our party has contested the
election due to the CPIs unholy
electoral alliance with the TDP
and ultimately achieved moral
victory, he said.
Our partys local body elected
representatives have demonstrated their loyalty by voting in
favour of our party contestant, he
said, adding that the YSRC will
strive with renewed vigour to
strengthen the organisation in
the district.

housing colonies, and community abandoned lands.

A total of 4,213 nurseries
were identified, and more
than 39 crore saplings were
raised in them for planting in
8,644 villages.
Despite the enthusiasm,
the programme was only partially successful largely owing
to truant monsoon.
Plantation could be taken
up only on avenues and institutional premises where regular watering was ensured.
The saplings raised by us
can survive to next year with a
little care.
Through water and nutrient control, and shifting and
grading, we will ensure that
they do not grow fast, said
Principal Chief Conservator
of Forests P.K.Sharma.

The project attracted trenchant criticism from social

and tribal activists who alleged that it aimed at displacing tribals in the name of afforestation.
They
are
planting
on
plots left fallow
by the tribals for
lack of rains,
thereby depriving them of forest rights. Foresters do not
even know that
forest fires are
desirable
for
germination of
certain varieties of plants.
They ought to have taken
us into confidence for effective implementation, says
Hussain Swamy, a tribal activist from Mahabubnagar.

HYDERABAD: Ask anyone as to

what they felt about 2015

meant for Telugu cinema and
pat will come the reply - S.S.
Rajamoulis
Baahubali.
Undisputedly,
it was this
mega-production that catapulted the film
industry to dizzying heights
and made Bollywood
and
Hollywood sit
up and take note.
Other big films that made
the makers more-than-comfortable include the Mahesh
Babu-starrer Srimanthudu
and Temper with NTR. At

the other end of the spectrum

were small films like Kumari
21 F, Pattaas, Malli Malli Idhi
Raani Roju `Raju Gaari Gadhi that managed to break
even.
Producer Allu Aravind of
Geeta Arts feels Telugu cinemas potential was truly
showcased with Baahubali
seeing a growth four times
that of Magadheera, also directed by Mr. Rajamouli, six
years ago.
We need to raise the bar.
Someone rarely comes with
such commitment to making
cinema that can be called
good across all audiences.
Baahubali is an eye-opener
for all the big filmmakers, he
said.
One small film that stole a
march over the others was

election by bursting firecrackers

near the bypass road here.
Elated over his victory, Mr
Lakshminarayana said the electors reposed their faith in the
leadership of Chief Minister K
Chandrasekhar Rao and rejected
the unethical alliance.
In a statement, CPI district secretary B Hemantha Rao alleged
that TRS won the MLC election
by resorting to most unethical
practices like encouraging defections and using money power.
YSRC flayed
By contesting the poll, in contrast to its earlier stance of waging
a collective fight against the dictatorial TRS regime, the YSRC
indirectly paved the way for the
victory of the ruling party at the
hustings, he alleged.
The CPI (ML-ND) owes an explanation to people for abstaining
from the voting when an opportunity came to teach a lesson to the
despotic regime, the CPI leader
said.

Kumari 21 F directed by B.
Sukumar for the risk he took
by experimenting with bold
content.
All right, now if one were to
look at the takeaways from
2015, several people in the industry are firm in their belief
that if a filmmaker had commitment and conviction, success was his/hers, says Rajkumar
Akella,
Managing
Director-India of Rentrak, a
global leader in precisely
measuring movie viewership.
We cracked a jinxed
thought that regardless of the
budget being big or small, a
hit would be impossible without a big hero. But the hit rate
has taken a beating this year.
They were just about a dozen
hits of the 150 produced, Mr.
Rajkumar said.

Aerial survey at
Medigadda
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
KARIMNAGAR: Irrigation experts

from both the Telangana and

Maharashtra States have inspected various sites for the
construction of barrage
across the river Godavari in
Karimnagar
district
on
Wednesday.
The irrigation CEs of Telangana Stateand the Maharashtra inspected the Medigadda,
Annaram
in
Mahadevpur mandal and Sindilla in Kamanpur mandal
and Toopakulagudem in Warangal district. They opined
that barrage across the Medigadda would be more feasible
as there would be no submergence of villages.
HY-HY