“Will JaguaR Replace The Rose ?”

Well, that was  my Facebook status message a couple of days ago. Quite understably, no one understood why I put it out there and what was the context. Call it my overconfidence or pass it as yet another PJ (read Poor Joke), what I wanted to convey was this :

Will Jagan Mohan Reddy a.k.a Jagu-(a)-R replace our soft spoken septuagenarian Rosaiah a.k.a The Rose. I never imagined I’d have to explain my PJ all over again… Never mind – that gives me another subject to decipher..hehe!;)

It takes no brains to tell that I am talking of Andhra politcs. With the death of YSR, there is a sympathy wave amongst his loyal followers to make YSR’s son the next Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

On one hand Mr. Rose has taken over as the care taker CM, for now. He very conveniently portrays an image – I am a loyal party soldier, I will do what “madam” or our high command says, I have no ambition and all that crap.  Hard to believe, but so far the 70+ something Mr.Rose has portrayed a decent “I am not too keen” kind of an image.

On the other hand, JMR a.k.a. The JaguaR (according to me), is playing it safe – It is an emotional time for him having lost his dad. The odds are in his favour to become the next Chief Minister of AP. That he doesn’t have the requisite experience in politics doesn’t hold much water for now with his loyal fanbase- they are going by the same Indira Gandhi-Rajiv Gandhi logic.

Will “madam” budge in to the pressure tactics by Jag’s fans ? Can Cong afford to have an inexperienced CM to rule a state like AP ? Will it be fair to veterans like Rosaiah, Jaipal Reddy etc. who have served the party for so many years ?

On the same coin, this might be a great opportunity to bring in a fresh new face and take advantage of the situation. That JMR is a successful businessman, an upcoming media tycoon will play well for him – only if he plays his cards right.

My bet is on long time Cong loyalist -Jaipal Reddy who is not only experienced at the Centre but also belong to the Reddy community which is a significant force in Andhra politics today (although I hate to see caste-based politics, the reality is that this is what moves India, today – look at the Maya Memsaab!).

Jaipal Reddy, for now, is keeping silent and staying away from any controversies. Is that part of a larger plan, by the way ?

Either ways – interesting time in Andhra politics. Can’t wait to see what’s next…

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Popularity: 6%

I’d written about the coming together of a bunch of extremely diverse politicians to form the third front a few weeks back. My concern was the fact that there was no common ground. By common ground, I mean a rationale common ground to form an alliance. Alliances like these are extremely opportunistic and nothing more than trying to get a leg up in the on-going political battle.

In exactly under 2 weeks, the TRS has pulled the plug on the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, differences apparently on the seat sharing issue. A rediff article that I read talks about this in detail and articulates the grounds of the severance – ill treatment of the kith and kin who were made to wait from 2230 hrs to well past mid-night and the fact that the number of seats to be shared between these two foes turned friends was something short of the expectations of our friend, Mr. Chandrashekar Rao.

The article goes on to show the level of immaturity of our politicians – our friend (read TRS) called some reporters personally, late in the night to inform them of the break up. Spare a thought for the reporter who was woken up in the middle of the night and informed of this! He now wants to go alone in AP!

Having lived in the AP for a good part of my working life, I believe that the state has progressed significantly over the last 2 decades. A lot of this is the doing of Mr. Naidu and his unwavering commitment to development. Dr. Reddy has been an able successor, in the fact that he’s kept the development agenda going.

The pace at which Hyderabad and AP are growing for sure gives its neighbors the jitters – Karnataka was in the receiving end over the last year and a half odd as AP smartly pulled the mat from under to move some very lucrative business start ups out of Karnataka. Any rationale businessman would do that and I won’t complain if I was a businessman. I want value for every buck I spend and will go to even Timbuktu, if I had to.

The simmering rivalry has now left the state, on the brink of assembly elections with 4 big parties in the fray – The ruling Congress, the opposition of Mr. Naidu and the TDP, fledgling Mr. Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam and of course, Mr. Rao’s TRS – pardon me for not including the BJP! If you do, this becomes 5. I don’t know the pulse on the ground and people’s penchant for change here today. With so many choices and each party capable of tapping the right hot buttons, the verdict of a hung assembly is a no- brainier!

Hung assemblies set up the stage for coalition politics and arm twisting – literally. I wont be surprised to see the same folks who were friends become foes, become friends again in 60 odd days time.

At the root of this all is the fact that we just let any man and his dog form a political party ( I don’t mean to be disrespectful here, this is just an expression). With so many options, people are confused and so too are parties. Can’t we just move to a US like 2 party system to manage this chaos better? They are a democracy too and largely successful. If you think 2 is too small, let’s make it 3! No more! You have to be a part of either – you don’t like it, move around! Till we get a handle on this, I am sure we will have many more parties and many more such stunts of alliance break ups and going back to hug one another on an opportunistic basis.

Any guesses on who’s pulling the next plug?

My money is in my wallet as I think anyone guessing that right is a true genius! If someone does indeed guess that right, I’ll doff my hat off to you and connect offline to see how you guessed!

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Popularity: 15%

Of late the political scene of Andhra Pradesh is heating up. Three parties Telugu Desam Party, Congress and Praja Rajyam Party are putting their best efforts to get to power in the upcoming elections.

While it is common knowledge that parties allege each other in this preparatory season, I was totally surprised by few statements made by a leader from Congress party.

The youth wing leader of Praja Rajyam Party, apparently alleged Congress party men and specially a Wakf Board chairman as traitor. In response to this statement, the Wakf Board chairman, who is from a minority community said:

“You are calling all of our community as traitors, who do you think you are?”

This is a clear example of how political leaders make a simple allegation into an issue of religion. These comments were more than enough to spark controversy and perhaps some riots.

While civilized and socially aware may understand this very easily, people who blindly go by their leaders words may totally miss the mal intent and resort to baneful activities.

So called civilized always step away from their duty to vote with lame excuses such as “Nothing can change this country”. This is my call for all of us to show that what democracy can do! Please go and vote.

And you politicians, please please do not make your power mongering tactics into issues of religion and brew hatred between communities… Please…

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Popularity: 9%

The Times of India has been tracking a very interesting story over the last few days. A Legislative Assembly (MLA) member was caught red handed for accepting a bribe of INR 500K in cash to settle a civil dispute. Ever since this MLA has been caught, he’s been on the run. In a bid to avoid being arrested, this MLA has been hospital hopping!

His misfortune or otherwise, the heart hospital that he went to seeking cover first said he was perfectly fit and said here were no grounds to admit him. The MLA then developed a severe headache and then went to another hospital where he has been admitted. This is the National Health of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) where he is now housed on the stated pretext that he is unwell!

In such a blatant act of exploiting the loop holes in the law, this MLA, who has no way to get out of the mess that he is in, is now in hospital. The organization that caught him is complaining saying that this time enables a man in power to tamper evidence.

This is certainly no isolated incident – the fact that the SEBI is moving the high court to seek access to someone who himself has confessed that he siphoned out money, the fact that the state governments of both Andhra and Karnataka took their own sweet time to act on cases where there was immense pressure to act and did all but bare little, the fact that someone who has been convicted for attacking parliament is still alive, and let’s not forget the story of the captured militant from 26/11 who’s still yet to have a formal charge sheet registered against him… the list is just endless.

When the principles of the Indian constitution were being formed, we choose to mirror “best practices” from the land that ruled us for a long time – the British. If the laws we incorporated were on the principles of natural justice, where has natural justice gone suddenly?

While our laws badly need a re-look, I think institutions like hospitals need to act a little more responsibly. If a hospital is intended to be a cause to support a noble profession like medicine, who does their act to house someone on “medical grounds” go in line with their stated cause? It’s easy to argue a case the other way saying we are doing our jobs. If that’s the case, the yard sticks have to be the same and hospitals need to accept a common man who goes to hospital with a burn or an accident. It is in situations like these that hospitals gets on to the moral high ground and says that an FIR is needed for us to accept this person as this is “police case”.

We all know how frustrating these acts are. It’s time for change… but who is listening???

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Popularity: 9%

Over the last few days, there has been so much of attention given to Satyam, Ramalinga Raju, his admission, his arrest etc.  The entire corporate world is speaking their heart out against Satyam and its founder.

One aspect that received less attention is the Corporate Political nexus.

This is very evident in the Satyam saga.  Although the politicians ,the Naidus and the Reddys of the world,  are trying their best to stay away from the Rajus, it is a well known fact that Satyam’s progress and the awarding of the various contracts in Andhra Pradesh and the other parts of the country could not have been  possible without  ”Under The Table” dealings.

A controversy not so long ago in rewarding the Hyderabad Metro project was brought to everyone’s notice and Mr.E Sreedharan had quite famously said about the rewarding of the contract as

“Making available 296 acres of land to BOT to Maytas consortium was like selling the family silver”

It is a known fact that without the politicians, the corporate honchos are helpless in getting contracts after contracts. And without the contributions from the corporate, large scale spending on elections and self progress can never be achieved. 

While it may be extremely difficult to prove, given the fact that everyone connected to the Satyam scam would have washed off their hands and destroyed all or any of the remaining evidence so, the existence of relationship between big businesses and the politicians can not be denied. This nexus has only seen the common man suffer.

So who are these sufferers?

The worst sufferers are definitely the employees and the shareholders of the company. 

Spare a moment also for the hundreds (if not thousands) of future entrepreneurs who would not even dare to start a venture in India, knowing very well what they will have to compromise on their ethics and morality to be rewarded contracts.

How often do you see the likes of a Narayana Murthy or an Azim Premji emerge victorious without actually paying heed to the politician’s demands.  And if you dare to be different from the rest, you are often harassed mentally and in some cases physically until you succumb to the political pressures.

Given such environment to do business, it will be indeed surprising that how many small businesses and entrepreneurs will be able to make it big in India.

A dream will remain a dream if the lawmakers in India do not make exclusive provisions to severely punish those politicians and the corporate who indulge in unfair practices. There has to be a fear for the law of the land.

Last decade saw India leaping after the economy liberalized.  Now that some of the moles are out, the government should take extreme measures to ensure that the future years will be profoundly remembered as an age of trust, honesty and transparency where a rejuvenated India will emerge and a common man can dream…and dream big!

Popularity: 17%

In an unexpected move, the Indian government has appointed its Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India. Rao will succeed YV Reddy, who is retiring on September 5. Street has it that this move has made some heart burns including that of the Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan who was the hot favourite for the governor’s job.

Subbaro, 59, will hold office of the RBI governor for the next three years.

Reddy who became the RBI governor in July 2003, succeeding Bimal Jalan, expressed unwillingness for an extension of his term, forcing the government to look for a replacement. Chidambaram has been candid in his support towards the incumbent governor.

D Subbarao is a an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and a 1972 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service belonging to the Andhra cadre. Subbarao was secretary to Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. He has also done stints as an economist in World Bank between 1999 and 2004 in Africa and East Asia.

An alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he was a Humphrey Fellow, Subbarao also holds a doctorate from Andhra University. Subbarao joined the civil services after earning Masters in Economics from the Ohio State university.

Subbarao is taking over the top job when India’s inflation is at a very high level and also when the interest rates have gone through the roof. It’s likely Subbarao will continue with the strict policy for sometime now especially since it’s an election year. 

I also think, given his credentials, this is the right move for India from a global strategy view point as Subbarao brings with him a combination of experience in high ranks.

Will definitely be worth watching what Subbarao has in store for the country.

On a different note, Andhra Pradesh seems to be on a high in the RBI agenda – First YV Reddy and now D Subbarao. Phew !!!

Popularity: 39%