Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

`Paper tigers' run wild

WITH THE Congress taking over the reins in the State, it's only change of artistes, but the drama remains the same as far as convening press conferences is concerned. In any large political party like the Congress and the Telugu Desam, there is no dearth of paper tigers. They would only want to thrive by conducting press conferences or issuing press notes.

The latest trend among such paper tigers is that they want to assert themselves. The novel method they have chosen is to call up the chiefs of bureaux of different English newspapers and tell them which reporter should be sent to cover their press meets. If no one turns up from a particular newspaper of their choice, they again call the bureau chief to tell him: "I sent a press note. At least ensure that it is written by the same reporter. (care is taken to mention the name of the reporter)." And, if the report doesn't appear in the newspaper, the "tiger" doesn't mind calling the bureau chief again asking him to find out if the reporter concerned filed the story at all. Even special correspondents are not saved of this embarrassment. After all, in their eyes, a special correspondent is the one who covers special items of special people like the paper tigers.

The "tigers" are sneaking into various insignificant committees and at times performing the jobs, specifically earmarked for Ministers or the Chief Minister. Is there anyone to check them?

ATTENDING PUBLIC meetings convened by political parties or their frontal organisations is often a time consuming process. And, if the meeting continues till late night with speaker after speaker making "full utilization" of the mike, the audience are sure to face untold difficulties. This was evident the other day at a public meeting convened by the Andhra Pradesh Mahila Samakhya. The meeting commenced more than one hour behind schedule and coupled with that the lengthy speeches tested the patience of the audience. Seen in the picture are two such women trying to guard themselves from the flies and mosquitoes by wrapping a piece of cloth available to them. Of course, the situation of many others was no different, but they did not leave the venue till the meeting ended. Kudos to their patience!

AND, WHEN it comes to public meetings, especially those addressed by speakers from outside the State, the translation of their speech gives an altogether different picture. The main speaker at the Samakhya meeting was the NFIW Vice-President, Amarjeet Kaur, a north Indian and her speech was translated into Telugu by a local CPI leader. There is nothing new in this.

But, if the enthusiastic translator, a die-hard supporter of the Leftist ideology though, adds her own set of views to the original speech, those who understand both the languages are sure to get confused. The same happened in this case and the listeners were taken by surprise as the views being expressed by the main speaker were "already aired" by her translator. But for the fact that she does not understand Telugu, Ms. Kaur was sure to be left dumbfounded had she understood the translator's speech.

SURYA, A local Malayali cultural organisation, organised its 10th anniversary celebrations at the Tummalapallyvari Kshetrayya Kalakshetram auditorium here on Sunday. While the colourful function was enjoyed by the packed gathering of Malayalees, the scribes faced `language problem.'

The entire bunch of speakers including the chief guest and Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, V. Roy Jose, chose to address the gathering only in Malayalam. Author and columnist, Turlapati Kutumba Rao, who presided over the function, intervened on behalf of the fourth estate and appealed to Mr. Jose and others to speak in English for the convenience of the scribes. But, the speakers ignored the plea much to the chagrin of the scribes.

And it was not just the scribes, but even Mr.Rao appeared to have found himself lost in the massive gathering of the Malayalees, as he admitted that he too did not understand a wee bit of the language. The organisers, instead of inviting the media could have sent a press note, some of them opined.

THE TELUGU Desam Party in Guntur district is still reeling under the party's defeat during the last general elections with two powerful groups within the party involved in one-upmanship. Every other day there are allegations and counter-allegations from both sides on trivial issues in the media.

The Zilla Parishad Chairman, Pathuri Nagabhushanam, the only TDP man holding a high-level public office other than the Ponnur MLA, Dhulipalla Narendra, feels sandwiched in the intra-party squabbles. Some party men allege he is toeing the Congress line by favouring their proposals. Mr. Nagabhushanam avers he was going the extra mile with the Congress in developmental works to create a positive image for the TDP, which could help the party in the coming elections for local bodeis, but there were no takers for the theory.

The TDP district unit president, Makineni Peda Rattaiah, now has a daunting task of uniting all forces to give the party a good chance of victory in the elections.

M. Rajeev and

R. Balaji in Vijayawada and

Ramesh Susarla

in Guntur

By A. Saye Sekhar, M. Rajeev and R. Balaji in Vijayawada and Ramesh Susarla in Guntur

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

VMC in grip of financial crisis
Around the City
In Vijayawada Today
`Paper tigers' run wild

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu