A rare sight, by all means!
The inauguration of Green Line (JBS-MGBS Corridor) of the Hyderabad Metro Rail the other day may have extended the hassle-free commuting to the citizens of the City of Pearls, but the event had also made a rare sight possible — Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his most vocal critic and Congress Member of Parliament from Malkajgiri A. Revanth Reddy sharing the dais. The rare sight of the two political rivals in one picture frame was captured by the shutter-bugs with enthusiasm.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi left no stone unturned to defeat Mr. Revanth Reddy in the 2018 December Assembly polls and 2019 April Lok Sabha elections, in which the score was egalite as he lost the Assembly election from Kodangal but won the Lok Sabha poll from Malkajgiri. What was more heartening was that Mr. Revanth Reddy was seen chatting with Secunderabad legislator and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly T. Padma Rao with hand-in-hand even as they stood next to the Chief Minister.
CAA, NRC, NPR debate hots up
The ongoing controversy over the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens and National Population Register appears to have become a major bone of contention between the State and the Central governments or at least between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While the BJP, ruling at the Centre, had recently made into law the CAA, the TRS had resolved firmly to oppose the Act. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation went ahead to pass a resolution against the CAA and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy contested the passage of the resolution claiming that parties opposing the Act should come out with specific objections against the provisions, if any, which are not in the interest of the people.
Arguments on the matter continue with sides reaffirming their respective stances, but effort should be made from both the sides to see that public interest or public works are not impacted by the developments.
Additional seats at degree level
Next academic year could see a sea change in courses and strength of seats in degree colleges across the State as the Telangana State Council of Higher Education has invited applications from college managements wanting to avail the facility.
In fact, the seed for the development was sown last year when the government decided to extend the same to colleges that filled at least 60 % of the seats available with them. It was estimated that in all about 20,000 seats would be on offer additionally as each college would get 100 seats more.
In the notification issued by the Council recently, it was suggested that the colleges were free to withdraw courses and opt for change in medium of instruction if they so desired. The withdrawal of courses and medium change was expected to erode 5,000 seats. Hence, the managements have painted a picture that the net gain could be 15,000 seats.
Opportunity smiles on a panchayat clerk
The recent elections to municipal bodies in Telangana saw a woman upstaging her husband though she was a rank outsider to politics till polls.
Mallela Rajasri was a clerk in the gram panchayat of Bheemgal in Nizamabad district where her husband was initially a ward member and later upa-sarpanch. They fell in love and got married. After the gram panchayat was upgraded to a municipality, the post of chairperson of the new body was reserved for women of backward classes. Ms. Rajasri resigned her job to plunge into politics just before elections and went on to win as one of the ward members and also chairpersonship of the municipality as a candidate of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Her husband was left behind as a TRS activist and carrying on with his traditional occupation of agriculture.
(B. Chandrashekhar, M. Rajeev and N. Rahul)