The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ‘Boiling’ point!

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Tuesday, Nov 04, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

‘Boiling’ point!

Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy was keen on participating in the ‘gruha pravesham’ (housewarming ceremony) of dwellers of multi-storeyed houses constructed under JNNURM scheme. Congress leaders, in a bid to reflect the mood, arranged the families moving into the new houses to boil milk as part of the programme. The enthusiastic Minister waited for the milk to boil over and came to the dais only after that. The delay caused at the programme resulted in a different type of boiling at another programme, in which the Minister was scheduled to participate. MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna seethed in anger when he was made to wait for more than an hour at the Indira Gandhi statue.

Embarrassing moments

Leaders are the happiest lot if their attendants take care of their visitors without waiting for their instructions. But, Mayor Mallika Begum had to face embarrassing moments when her attendant served sweets to scribes who paid a visit to her office on November 1.

The reporters said, rather jocularly, whether sweets were being distributed to mark her resignation to the post. Visibly uncomfortable, she asked the attendant to cite the reason for serving the sweets. To her dismay, he replied that he was not aware of the reasons but did so following instructions from her peshi. During the day, Ms. Begum was also present at an impromptu press conference that practically revolved around her resignation.

It finally needed MP Lagadapati Rajagopal to seek to put an end to the speculation by announcing that Ms. Begum had, indeed, submitted her resignation to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

In the limelight

The 31 pairs of brides and bridegrooms that gathered at the TTD kalyana mandapam at Punnamithota on Sunday to tie the nuptial knot as part of the fourth phase of Kalyanamastu, hogged more than their share of limelight. Eager to capture colourful images of the various rituals associated with a Hindu marriage, press photographers went berserk, letting their cameras shoot every possible posture of the prospective couples. While some pairs enjoyed the extraordinary attention bestowed on them, the diffident lot had a difficult time keeping their grin intact every time there was a camera flash. The good-looking couples were the ‘worst affected’ as the shutterbugs wanted them to repeat rituals like ‘talambraalu’ for what appeared to be an ‘unending period’ – till they were satisfied that they caught the right moments.

Garjana craze

Ahead of the Yuva Garjana, leaders of Telugu Yuvatha, the youth wing of the TDP, seem to attach more importance to organising motorcycle rallies rather than the customary door-to-door mobilisation and padayatras in various localities. The party leadership also announced that young enthusiasts would come vrooming on over a lakh motorcycles to the venue of the meeting opposite ANU. In the city, such rallies were conducted in One Town, Patamata and various other places. “Our anxiety is to make it look like an attractive event for youth. The idea of coming on bikes has gone down well with the cadres,” says a TDP leader. Speeding and other problems would be tackled by Telugu Yuvatha leaders.

(G.V. Ramana Rao,

G.V.R. Subba Rao,

P. Sujatha Varma and G. Ravikiran in Vijayawada)

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Andhra Pradesh