As the Endowments Minister, Vellampalli Srinivas was busy taking part in the recent Brahmotsavams at Tirumala temple. After returning from there, he complained of symptoms of cold, fever and breathlessness. In the tests, the Minister was found infected with Coronavirus. Though large crowds were avoided during TTD’s recent Brahmotsavams, quite a good number of the officials and ruling party leaders took part in the events. Moreover, more party leaders arrived to meet and greet CM Jaganmohan Reddy and Ministers.

Now, with the Endowments Minister himself testing Covid positive, the officials sounded alert to all those who took part in Brahmotsavams in the TTD temple. Lots of officials and the ruling party leaders happened to meet the Minister during the celebrations. They were being asked to undergo tests and take precautionary measures.

In recent weeks, the virus infections were silently increasing all over while there were decreased precautionary measures in general. The Government has also advised home quarantine new patients of the virus. In the absence of strict monitoring, the patients were taking light of quarantine and becoming responsible for the rapid spread of the disease.

Minister Vellampalli stayed for over one week in Tirupati for recent Brahmotsavams. It triggered concerns over the threat of large scale infections. Already, many archakas also suffered from virus infections atop Tirumala hills.

The Kapu vote bank is stronger in the twin Godavari districts and also in Visakhapatnam.This vote bank is crucial for any party to get that winning edge in the elections. YCP lost all four assembly segments in Vizag port city in 2019. But still it is still shifting Capital there. Hence, Vijayasai Reddy made in charge of the mission to attract Kapus and establish unquestioned supremacy of YCP there. This was why Vijayasai spent more time in North Andhra city and even claimed the caste name in certificates of most Reddys is ‘Kapu’ only.

Pawan Kalyan certainly has got charisma and glamour but that has not translated much into votes in 2019. His party could not win a decent number of MLAs like his brother Chiranjeevi’s party did before. Even then, Pawan’s influence in AP electoral politics is being recognized by one and all because of his caste vote bank. This is why the BJP is not ready to lose his support at any given opportunity.

On the other hand, the BJP is solely banking on Kapus’ larger support base to establish itself in AP. At any cost, it wants the Kapu vote bank. The obvious reason is that the other two dominant castes, Reddys and Kammas, are sailing with YCP and TDP. The BJP’s game plan is to get total support of Kapus in addition to the Hindu vote bank it wants to create. Hence, the BJP needs Kapu leaders Somu Veerraju and also Pawan.

Now, another Kapu group is trying to emerge on the scene to play politics around this caste vote bank. Mudragada Padmanabham, who quit politics, was under pressure from this to come back and lead the caste in their agitation for reservations.

For the TDP, it has its own support base among the Kapus in Godavari districts and North Andhra. Now, question is who will split this vote bank to what extent.

The State Bank of India (SBI) officials at Mangalore, Delhi and Kolkata successfully foiled a conspiracy to rob Rs. 112 Cr from the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF). The gangsters tried to use the fake cheques in the name of Assistant Secretary to AP Government, Revenue (CMRF), AP Secretariat, Velagapudi. The fake cheques have all the necessary stamps and signatures. It was mentioned account payee also. But still, the SBI officials got suspicious and cross checked with the AP Government.

On getting suspicions, the SBI officials telephoned their counterparts in the SBI Velagapudi branch at AP Secretariat. With this, it was revealed that the Assistant Secretary to the Government did not issue such cheques at all. The reasons for the bank officials to get suspicious were that the cheques involved huge amounts. Three fake cheques were used for drawing Rs. 52.65 Cr Mangalore, Rs. 39.85 Cr at Delhi branch and Rs. 24.65 Cr in Kolkata. All the cheques carried details of the Bank MG Road branch.

The SBI officials could prevent the massive fraud with alertness and caution. But the questions were arising how the fraudsters could get to know about the confidential details of the CMRF banking transactions. Officials are suspecting that there is a bigger conspiracy behind the entire failed fraud. It is not yet known whether the Government has initiated any probe or ordered any police investigation into the incident.

Andhra Pradesh in the 24 hours on Friday reported 8,096 new infections and 67 fatalities, taking the tally to over six lakh and death toll to 5,244.

Even as the state remains the country’s Covid-19 hotspot with the surging caseload, the Jagan-led YSRCP government on late Friday decided to reopen bars from today.

The Jagan government had been claiming that it is committed to eradicating alcohol. However, the state government has decided to continue all the 840 bar licences, existing as on June 30, 2020, till June 30, 2021, subject to the outcome of a pending batch of writ petitions in the High Court.

The Andhra Pradesh government decided to levy a 20 per cent ‘Covid-19 fee’ on the basic licence of bars and also a 10 per cent additional retail excise tax on liquor. With the Covid fee on bar licences, the state government expects to mop up Rs 40 crore and Rs 300 crore as an additional retail excise tax.

In the first week of May, the Andhra Pradesh government had permitted wine shops which led to massive queues stretching up to more than five kilometres with ‘Bacchus Lovers’ throwing the Covid-19 protocols to the winds.
In some parts of the state, several people died after consuming sanitizers due to lack of availability of liquor.

The state government on Thursday issued notices to more than 20 private unaided schools in West Godavari district, mostly belonging to Sri Chaitanya. The notices were issued by District Educational Officer (DEO) for not paying salaries to teachers and employees several months. Nellore Ravindra Bharathi EMHigh School in Tanuku, Sasi EM High School in Nallajarla), Sivani School in Eluru, C.V. Raman School in Bhimavaram Sri Vidyaniketan EM School in Akiveedu)were among the schools against whom notices were served.

District Educational Officer ordered the officials concerned to ensure that the private school teachers and employees receive their salaries.

Both the TDP and the BJP have raised their concerns over alleged missing of silver statues of 3 lions at the Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Temple. On the other hand, the temple Executive Officer is dismissing the possibility of a robbery. He is asking for three days time to check whether the statues are located. Right now, there are rising concerns that three out of the four silver lions were missing from the ‘Ammavari Ratham’ (sacred chariot) located under the Mahamandapam complex at the temple.

As per reports, each lion weighs up to 8 kg. The officials say the statues might have been in a locker and this should have to be checked. Alleging foul play, TDP MLC Buddha Venkanna rushed to the temple and inquired about the incident. He demanded the temple officials and the government to come out with facts as to what happened.

Whereas, BJP AP President Somu Veerraju met and complained to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan that yet another attack took place on Hindu temples this time at Durga Temple. He demanded immediate efforts to nab the accused and recover the statues. Questions are asked why no complaint was not made to the police yet. Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivas visited the temple and instructed the officials to launch immediate steps to trace the statues of lions.

Undoubtedly, the continuing incidents at temples are giving embarrassment to the Government at a time when the Parliament was in session. Amid this, there are rising allegations that the officials and the Government were trying to protect the persons responsible for the disappearance of missing lions statues.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has appointed a special officer for bringing the situation under control at the Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy Temple in Antarvedi in East Godavari district. Endowments Additional Commissioner Ramachandra Mohan is now appointed as the special officer. He will stay at the temple for the next 15 days to make sure that normalcy is restored. He is given the special task of ensuring that the new chariot be made and ready for the next celebrations and procession of the deities.

Meanwhile, 5 days are over since the chariot burning occurred but the authorities could not find any conclusive clues to resolve the mystery. Five to six special teams have been formed to question and extract information from the staff of the temple, archakas there, residents of Antarvedi village and also devotees who visited around that time. One team is checking the footage from over 20 CCTV cameras fixed on the temple premises. The staff and devotees found in the footage in the past two weeks were being questioned.

The Government has taken the investigation into the fire very seriously. As of now, there are no firm clues to suspect the involvement of honey hunters. The suspicion angle against the mentally unstable person did not make much progress.

Just like most other untoward incidents at places of worship, the probe into Antarvedi fire is hitting many roadblocks. The Government is under heavy pressure now in view of the continuing mystery. As a precautionary measure, special measures are being taken to keep round the clock surveillance at the sacred chariots of temples all over the State.