Yerran survives powerful landmine blast in 2004, dies in mishap

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Nov 3, 2012: When, senior Telugu Desam (TD) leader, Kinjarapu Yerrannaidu survived a powerful landmine blast triggered by outlawed Maoists in April 2004, his followers, well wishers and close aides felt he will live 100 years, but little they knew that 7 years later in 2012, a simple road mishap would kill their beloved leader.

Naidu was killed in a road accident in the wee hours of Friday, when the speeding vehicle in which he was travelling hit an oil tanker carrying tar from behind.  

On the midnight of April 18, in 2004, Naidu was returning in an SUV from Tekkali to Srikakulam when naxalites blasted the landmine. The SUV he was traveling at that time went about 5 feet up in the air and the engine was reduced to a mangle. Yerran Naidu, two of his associates and two gunmen survived the blast.

Later he won the loksabha election that was conducted after two days and went on to become face of TD in New Delhi.

From a humble beginning as a small time advocate in Srikakulam town, after completing graduation in law at Andhra University, he went on to become TD Parliamentary Party (TDPP) leader.  

He was fondly called as Uttarandhra Simham, Netaji and Yerranna by his followers. “Yerrannaidu not only strived for the party, he worked for the welfare and upliftment of the poor and the downtrodden. It’s a great loss to Andhra Pradesh and equally to our party. We lost a powerful leader,” said former minister and another senior TD leader, CH Ayyana Patrudu.

Yerran Naidu was known to be having sound knowledge about various issues concerning common man and he was always in the forefront to fight for the poor. He led many protests in the three districts of north Andhra. “Personally it’s an irrecoverable loss to me. He guided me on many issues when I newly entered politics,” said ports and infrastructure minister, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who begun his political career with TD.

Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who was elected from Anakapalli parliamentary constituency in 1999, was also Naidu’s Loksabha colleague.

“He was a mass leader and has this fighter instinct in him.,” said CPI district secretary, JV Satyanrayana Murthy. 

MARRIAGE HUES: Big fat wedding in Botsa family has officials on toes

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Nov 2, 2012: The wedding of Botsa Anusha, daughter of transport minister and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, has the local officials in jitters. They are under tremendous pressure to provide accommodation and “official” vehicles for VVIPs and VIPs attending the affair to be held in neighbouring Viziangaram on Friday.

The Governors of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have confirmed their visits.

The entire state Cabinet ministers including Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, 15 Union ministers along with newly sworn-in tourism minister K. Chiranjeevi, 30 MPs and more than 150 MLAs are to attend the wedding.

In a coincidence of sorts, most of the ministers are visiting Vizag on “official” work and then planning to attend the wedding in Viziangaram on Friday evening.

Interestingly, most of the ministers are visiting Vizag on "official" work and then attend the wedding in Viziangaram on Friday evening. Given the large number of VVIPs, maintaining protocol is turning out to be a problem since the local office is understaffed — Vizag is not a prominent destination due to lack of political and government related activity.

Therefore, a battery of tahsildhars, MROs, special grade deputy collectors has been deployed by the local administration to take care of the guests.

The transport and police departments are hiring more than 200 private vehicles. The transport department is hiring 150 vehicles on Thursday and Friday paying `1,000 per day per vehicle. In all, it is spending `3 lakh to hire vehicles for “official” movements.

Transport department sleuths are also said to be pressurising taxi operators.

“We are hiring private vehicles to use them as part of the convoys,” in charge deputy transport commissioner G. Krishnaiah told this correspondent.

In a last-minute arrangement, local officials are said to have brought in beacon lights from Hyderabad to fit on cars carrying VIPs.

With the government circuit house having limited accommodation and given the long list of the guests officials had to find rooms for them in star hotels on the Beach Road and also in guest houses belonging to various PSUs located in the vicinity.

“Ministers have suddenly decided to hold ‘review’ meetings at Vizag just to attend the VIP wedding. These review meetings are meant to legitimise the visits of these ministers,” said social activist and former bureaucrat, E.A.S. Sarma.

Men shy away from FP surgery fearing losing ‘manhood’

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 31, 2012: Despite government offering incentives and encouraging men to undergo sterilization surgery as part of Family Planning (FP) programme very few are taking up vasectomy in Vizag fearing losing ‘manhood’.

Statistics available at the medical and health department show that of the total FP operations done since 2009, vasectomy cases are too little throwing light that women alone are taking up the responsibility of keeping their families ‘small’ in Vizag.

It is the myth that man’s sexual potency may decrease after the vasectomy, is said to be preventing men to undergo the surgery. While vasectomy is a minor surgery involving almost no risk, tubectomy surgery for women, is a major operation involving elaborate preparation and lengthy hospitalisation. 

Of the 25, 212 FP operations in 2009-10, in the district the vasectomy surgeries are only 1,496. In 2010-11, the total FP cases are 21,750 and of them  less than 3 percent are vasectomies and in  2011-12 the total operations are 21,029 and there was a slight increase of 4 percent in vasectomy surgeries and from April to September this year-2012-a  total 7,993 operations were performed.

Interestingly the little raise in vasectomy surgeries though much less than the tubectomy cases in 2010-11, 2011-12 is due to the tribal men, who  are coming forward to undergo minor surgery due to the incentives offered by the government.

“We try our best to dispel the myths associated with the aftermath of vasectomy. Despite many awareness programmes men still prefer women to undergo tubectomy. But, this is changing in tribal areas due to varied reasons,” additional district medical and health officer (ADM&HO), Syamala Devi told this correspondent.

Government offers Rs 1,100 as incentive to men for undergoing vasectomy and Rs 600 to women for tubectomy. Statistics show that even money is not driving men to undergo FP surgery.  “Vasectomy doesn't make a man impotent or affect sperm count. Men can start working after a few days. These surgeries are done under local anaesthesia and are very safe,” said Dr Kutikuppala Surya Rao, internationally renowned researcher in HIV/AIDS.

SAMAIKYANDHRA ACTIVISTS' RED OVER KCR VISIT

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 31, 2012: TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao might have not yet even decided yet on the invite extended by PCC chief Botsa Satyanayarana to attend his daughter’s marriage in Viziangaram on November 2, but resistance has already started brewing among the united AP protagonists.

Activists of Samaikyandhra JAC are gearing up to register their protest in case the TRS chief visits Vizianagaram to attend the wedding. They plan a series of protests, starting on Wednesday till the wedding day against the visit of the man who had been spearheading the demand for separate T-state.

The activists have already vowed to stop Mr Rao from entering North Andhra at Vizag itself. “He had earlier raised slogans like “Telangana wale jaago, Andhra wale bhaago” hurting the sentiments of Andhra settlers in Hyderabad. There were many other such slogans targeting Andhra people.

He should first apologise for the derogatory remarks, then only he would be allowed in Vizianagaram,” Samaikyandhra political JAC convener J.T. Rama Rao said.

Interestingly, there are many unsubstantiated reports, vehemently denied by Mr Rao’s family, that his ancestors originally hailed from Vizianagaram district. Reports say that the remains of a house that belonged to the TRS chief ’s forefathers are still lying in Buddipet village under Pedabogili panchayat of Sitanagaram mandal.

The reports say that Mr Rao’s grandfather Venkatrao and his great-grandfather Rama Rao lived in Buddipet.

The reports say the Kalwakuntla family migrated to Telangana due to drought conditions at the turn of the 18th century.

MURDER IN US: Raghu’s kin pin hope on TV footage to save him

By SNV Sudhir 

Visakhapatnam, Oct 29: Family members of Raghu Yandamuri, who was arrested on  charges of murdering 10month old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother in the US, are pinning hopes on a video footage of a local news channel 6abc.com in the US in which the accused said ‘am not the one’ while responding to a query by reporters on October 26.

They want a free and fair probe, covering all the aspects and angles which led to the double murder. Family members are of the opinion that there must be some ‘external’ force that acted on him, forcing him to accept the crime. 

With the given unblemished character and track record of Raghu, his family members are now planning to approach Indian embassy through local officials to talk to him directly to verify the facts.

“Of all the video clippings it is in this footage we noticed that answering a query by reporters before getting into vehicle at the FBI office he (Raghu) said ‘am not the one’. Why would he say so when he had confessed of committing the crime with the FBI,” questions Raghu’s brother, Satish Kumar Yandamuri, while speaking to this correspondent.

Family members and friends want to first talk to Raghu and sought permission from the US authorities. Satish added that even if there were some financial problems they could have been solved. For this Raghu would not have attempted a kidnap to demand ransom and resort to killings, he said.

“With this footage and evidences of previous track record of Raghu’s character, we are approaching local authorities and Indian embassy for a free and fair trail. We strongly feel that he might have accepted the crime coming under pressure by another person who also knew about this plot to kidnap for ransom,” said wife of Raghu’s brother, Jyothy. 

MURDER IN U.S. Killer’ s mom wants to contact son

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 29, 2012: The grief-stricken mother of software engineer Raghunandan Yandamuri, who has been arrested for the murder of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and the baby’s grandmother Satyavatamma, in the US on October 22, is shattered, and cannot believe that her son committed such a terrible crime.Yandamuri Padmavthi wants the authorities to permit her to talk to her son.
“After the news about Saanvi’s kidnapping and death and the grandmother’s murder broke, Raghu spoke to me twice. Raghu said he was helping the parents to find Saanvi. Then I came to know through the media that he has confessed to the crime,” Padmavathi said. “If he has really done this, he should be punished. But I want to talk to him once” Padmavathi said.
Padmavathi's husband, who was a constable with the Greyhounds, died in 1997. Since then, she has been working as a junior assistant at the district police office. Raghunandan studied in Visakhapatnam, did his B.Tech from Chilakuripeta in Guntur district and went to the US in 2007 to do an MS.
When she heard that her son was the killer, Padmavathi fell unconscious. “I struggled to bring up my kids. Raghu was intelligent.
He never harmed anyone and used to help poor students,” Padmavathi said.
She says her son never told her about financial problems. “We would have helped him if he had financial problems,” said Raghunandan’s elder brother Satish, who works for an IT company in Hyderabad.
Satish rushed to Visakhapatnam to take care of his mother as soon as news of his brother’s criminal act broke.
Others who knew Raghunandan find it equally hard to believe he could have committed the crimes.Relatives also rubbished media reports that Raghunandan was in love with Saanvi's mother Cenchu Lata and wanted to marry her. Raghu married Komali, his classmate, in April after a long courtship.
Meanwhile, the Indian community and Telugu Associations in the United States expressed shock over the twin murder of toddler Saanvi Venna and her grandmother Satyavathi and couldn’t digest the fact that the killer hailed from the community. “It is a very tragic incident. No one ever thought would happen in Indian community,” Budhavarapu, of the Telugu Association said.

Tollywood shift: Vizag, the new hotspot for film studios

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 23, 2012: One man’s loss is another man’s gain. With frequent bandhs, strikes and protests due to the Telangana agitation in and around Hyderabad, many producers, directors and film personalities are opting for setting up film studios in Vizag.

Star producer and movie mogul Ramanaidu has opened his studios on Beach Road on a hilltop in the100 acres of land allotted by the state government. The re are also reports that the entire Telugu film industry, which is now spread across Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, will very soon shift to peace loving Vizag.

Next in line is said to be megastar and Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi’s worldclass studio on Beach Road. Land acquisition for Chiranjeevi’s studio has begun and the entire process has been kept under wraps.

“Several film personalities are finding it difficult to set up studios in Hyderabad for various reasons. For them, Vizag offers a perfect solution with great locations, natural scenic beauty and many other attractions,” ports and infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said.

He also added that there are many applications pending with the government seeking permission to build studios in Vizag. Construction of Chiranjeevi’s studio is expected to begin next year and will be completed within three years. The actor turned politician had already roped in international repute engineers to design the studios to make it a landmark in the city of destiny.

Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Muralimohan, Rajamouli, Puri Jagannadh, Ramana Gogula, R.P. Patnaik, comedians Ali and M.S. Narayana have acquired huge properties in Vizag to set up studios. The favourite spots for them are Bheemili, Sagar Nagar, Kapuluppada, Rushikonda.