K Venkatappa Naidu, a TDP leader facing several criminal cases, his brother, two gunmen and four other associates died at Bodanuru village in the faction-ridden district when some bombs exploded soon after their vehicle collided against a lorry, the police said. It was not clear how the explosion occurred. Police are looking into whether the bombs being carried in the vehicle exploded or there was any attack from outside.
The Chittoor MP's dress was split vertically with a white part having pictures of a wailing farmer and a worker while the other portion in black showed rich people rejoicing.
The ongoing tussle between the Andhra Pradesh government and a legislator of Opposition Telugu Desam TV Rama Rao over his alleged involvement in a case of sexual abuse took a curious turn on Saturday with five girls appearing before the state home minister and giving a statement against the MLA.
This is also the first time that Naidu has been arrested on corruption charges in his political career spanning over 40 years.
Opposition members created a ruckus during Zero Hour, raising the issue of alleged violation of land laws by the chief minister.
Armed with swords and sickles, about 20 people, allegedly owing allegience to the ruling Telugu Desam Party, went to Peddavaram early on Saturday morning and attacked the Congress workers after dragging them out of their homes, police said.
The Opposition members were demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy for illegal possession of land.
Naidu set out on the yatra in a specially built campaign bus from Matammagudi (local temple) in a Dalit colony in Rayalapuram village in his native Chittoor district, after seeking divine blessings of Lord Venkateswara at the famed Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam. With the next Assembly elections barely a year away, Naidu is undertaking the marathon yatra to dethrone the Congress regime led by Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. Naidu's yatra will enter Nalgonda district from Guntur.
The Left parties and Telugu Desam Party jointly staged a protest at Indira Park in Hyderabad on Thursday in protest against the failure of Andhra Pradesh and Central governments in controlling the abnormal hike in the prices of essential commodities. The parties vowed to take up 'serious agitation' in future if the governments failed to act swiftly to control the price rise.
The coming weeks are sure to have a lot of drama unfolding in Maharashtra, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Union Minister of State for Mines T Subbarami Reddy, Advisor on Public Affairs Dr K V P Ramachandra Rao and Telugu Desam Party founder N T Rama Rao's son Nandamuri Harikrishna are among the six candidates who filed their nominations on Saturday for Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Andhra Pradesh slated for March 26.
Chinna Reddy had accused Janardhan Reddy of damaging his reputation during a general body meeting of the Mahbubnagar zilla parishad on February 17, 2002. Janardhan Reddy was a minister in the TDP government at that time while Chinna Reddy was an MLA from the Congress.
Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill to regulate the appointment and service terms of Chief Election Commissioner and election commissioners incorporating key amendments like retaining their status at par with Supreme Court judges, upgrading the search committee and inserting a new clause to protect them from court cases while discharging their official duties.
In a bid to out-do the ruling Congress party and others in populist promises, the main opposition Telugu Desam party on Thursday announced that if it comes to power in the next month's elections to the state assembly, it will provide a colour television set to each poor family in Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress and the Grand Alliance of the Telugu Desam Party, the Telengana Rashtra Samithi, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India are expected to be locked in a direct contest for electoral supremacy in Andhra Pradesh, with Praja Rajyam Party likely to emerge as a dark horse with its chief Chiranjeevi hoping to do an Obama with his 'change' mantra.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a key ally of the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, today said his Telugu Desam Party will never help L K Advani become Prime Minister nor support any BJP government at the Centre.
The seat sharing has become the biggest challenge before the four party Grand Alliance led by the Telugu Desam party. The TDP president, N Chandrababu Naidu is under tremendous pressure from his partners' demand for a larger number of Lok Sabha and assembly seats.
The Grand Alliance of opposition in Andhra Pradesh, headed by the Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu, continues to suffer from teething problems and confusion. In a setback to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, one of the constituents of the alliance, the TDP president Chandrababu Naidu has made it clear that the GA will not have any common agenda or program.
Amidst high drama, 32 TDP MLAs, including party president N Chandrababu Naidu staged a demonstration near the Speaker's podium after the House was adjourned.Naidu and his colleagues slept on the floor and were preparing to corner the Congress government on the MSP issue as soon the House assembles on Monday, the last day of the 10-day winter session. In spite of repeated appeals by the Speaker, the slogan-shouting TDP legislators continued their sit-in near the podium.
As the assembly elections loom large over Andhra Pradesh, a race of sorts has already begun among the political parties to offer sops and make populist promises.
The grandiose plans of the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh to form a 'grand alliance' to ensure the defeat of ruling Congress party were lying in tatters as the recently established relations between the main opposition Telugu Desam Party and powerful regional party Telangana Rashtra Samiti reaching a breaking point on the issue of seat sharing.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Tuesday dared Leader of Opposition and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to agree to an enquiry commission to investigate the wealth accumulated by them and their family members over the last three decades. Dr Reddy lambasted Naidu for alleging that he was making Rs one crore per hour through corrupt means. In fact, during his nine-year rule, Naidu was used to earning income on an hourly basis, the CM alleged.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy passed away in Hyderabad on Friday morning following prolonged illness.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
The TDP said that the "state's constitutional machinery has broken down and there is total collapse of law and order."
The Communist Party of India announced alliance with main opposition Telugu Desam Party for assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled to be held early next year saying the main objective of such a tie-up is to defeat ruling Congress.
Breaking his silence on the Telangana issue, Kadapa Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday said he stands for a united Andhra Pradesh and alleged that the Telugu Desam Party and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu were responsible for the current situation in the state.
The number of Congress MPs to resign to protest against the Centre's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh has gone up to three, while 90 MLAs from Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam have also resigned. Two TDP MPs have also submitted their resignation.
This time the battle for the 175-member assembly will be between TDP and Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress.
"Our party has decided not to attend the meeting with the GoM. Our main demand is that the GoM engage all stakeholders, including the Joint Action Committees, from different regions of the state in talks on the issue and address all concerns," TDP senior leader Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu said in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Though the main agenda of the meeting is to decide the strategy on presidential election and the alternative economic agenda being proposed by TDP, talks will also cover the proposed Third Front.
The parties also vowed to "jointly and unitedly fight against political vendetta" against former chief ministers and their associates by their political rivals who are now in power.
The film stars in Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu's family have rallied together to counter the growing political threat from actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi. At a closed door meeting between Naidu and the four film stars in his family on Sunday, a strategy was chalked out to take on Chiranjeevi in the next elections. The meeting was attended by popular actor Balakrishna, his brother TDP MP and actor Harikrishna and film star sons NTR Junior and Kalyan Ram.
The CBI will now have all powers to take up corruption and other cases in AP.
The reward came exactly a month later. Liquor baron and expelled Telugu Desam Party MP from Chittoor D K Adikesavalu Naidu was appointed chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams, the world's richest Hindu shrine, for having shown his loyalty to the United Progressive Alliance government during the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on July 22.
The Congress and NCP are partners for a decade but both share the same political and ideological space but compete for growth. That implies one trying to grow at the expense of the other partner. Which, in turn, means identifying seats which can be assuredly won, improving the hit-rate so that when the final tally comes in, claims can be made about the which of the two is leading the other.
The party had quit the NDA citing differences with the BJP's Tamil Nadu unit.