“Friday court bird” Jagan rushed to Hyd: CBI case or marriages?

Everyone knows that YS Jagan is a “Friday court bird” before he became Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

He used to attend CBI court in Nampally, Hyderabad every Friday to face trail in disproportionate assets cases in which he is Accused No. 1 (A-1) till he became AP CM recently in May.

After he became CM, Jagan has been claiming exception from personal appearance in court on the ground that AP is facing severe financial and other problems and as CM he has to discharge his constitutional duties to improve the situation.

However, the CBI has recently filed a petition in the court opposing granting exemption to Jagan saying that Jagan influenced witnessed even when he was in Chanchalguda jail and when he was leader of oppostion. CBI said today Jagan is a powerful man as CM of AP and if Jagan is given exemption he will threaten witnesses and manipulate evidences to get away from his cases scot free.

The CBI court is scheduled to hear this petition today (Friday).

At this juncture, the sudden news about Jagan rushing to Hyderabad today broke out.

The Chief Minister’s Office claimed that Jagan is visiting Hyderabad only to attend few marriage functions of his close friends and relatives today

But it led to suspicion as CBI court is also hearing petition against Jagan on the same day against giving exemption from personal appearance.

The outcome of the CBI case will be known in the next few hours today.

Thanks to AP CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the income that should belong to Andhra Pradesh has gone to Telangana.

In a way, Jagan transferred income of the ‘revenue deficit state’ AP to ‘revenue surplus state’ Telangana.

Jagan’s decision to implement ‘liquor ban’ in AP in a phased manner starting from this year has led to huge rush of applications from AP liquor traders to set up liquor shops in Telangana.

The deadline to submit applications to set up liquor shops in Telangana ended yesterday (Wednesday).

Over 43,0000 applications have been received for 2,216 liquor shops in Telangana.

Of them, nearly half of the applications were from Andhra Pradesh.

Each applicant has to pay non-refundable deposit of Rs 2 lakh towards application fee alone.

AP liquor traders vied to submit applications by paying Rs 2 lakh deposit.

While the Telangana government earned nearly Rs 900 crore through application fees alone, the AP liquor traders alone contributed over Rs 400 crore.

Even if AP traders fail to secure licenses to set up liquor shops in the draw of lots, there is nothing to lose for Telangana.

Because, it is non-refundable deposit and AP traders and AP state will be the losers.

AP traders are attempting to set up liquor shops in Telangana in partnership with their relatives and friends in Telangana.

In this way, the Telangana government became richer by Rs 400 crore, thanks to AP CM Jagan.

While Jagan is going for overdraft (OD) to mobilise funds for his ‘navaratnalu’, due to pathetic financial conditions of AP, the Telangana government, is minting money from AP traders who are running to Telangana to protect their liquor business and their earnings.

Telangana government heads and officials now hope for Jagan to take some more ‘reverse decisions’ in future to increase the revenues of Telangana.

Fulfilling a major poll promise, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday launched ‘YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme-PM Kisan’ scheme, under which each farmer will get Rs. 13,500 as input assistance every year.

The Chief Minister launched the flagship scheme at Kakutur in Nellore district by handing over cheques to beneficiaries.

The scheme is expected to benefit 54 lakh farmers including landless tenant farmers across the state. The amount will be deposited in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, Reddy said though YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) during the elections had promised financial assistance of Rs. 12,500 per year, the government has decided to increase it by Rs. 1,000.

The Chief Minister said despite the financial constraints, his government was committed to implement the scheme for five years.

He said though the previous government had identified 43 lakh beneficiaries, YSRCP government conducted a transparent survey to include all those eligible beneficiaries who were left out during the previous survey.

He claimed that Andhra Pradesh is the only state to implement such a huge financial assistance scheme for tenant farmers. Three lakh tenant farmers belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), backward classes and minority communities are among 54 lakh beneficiaries.

Reddy said YSRCP had promised to implement the scheme from May 2020 but it has advanced the implementation by eight months.

The beneficiaries under PM Kisan Nidhi scheme of the Centre will get Rs. 6,000 while the remaining amount will be paid by the state government. Those not covered under the Centre’s scheme will get the entire assistance from the state.

He said beneficiary farmers were given Rs. 2,000 each in June and now they will get Rs. 9,500. Another Rs. 2,000 will be paid during ‘Sankranthi’.

From next year, every beneficiary will get Rs. 7,500 in May at the beginning of Kharif sowing season, Rs. 4,000 in October for harvesting Kharif crop or for Rabi needs. The remaining Rs. 2,000 will be paid on the occasion of ‘Sankranthi’.

AP CM Jaganmohan Reddy made a big political step to counter the BJP’s ‘Sticker CM’ allegations against him. He renamed farmers investment support scheme as ‘YSR Rythu Bharosa PM Kisan Yojana’. This is undoubtedly done following allegations by BJP AP President Kanna Lakshminarayana that Jagan became just like Chandrababu Naidu in claiming central schemes as their own. Naidu never tried to give any credit to BJP but now Jagan made a difference.

With this, CM Jagan has also become one step closer to the Modi-Shah duo. Analysts say that Jagan has clearly broken a tradition where State governments never give advantage to Centre in welfare schemes. However, Kanna’s one suggestion was not completely implemented. Kanna actually requested for using Modi’s name in Rythu Bharosa.

Interestingly, AP will not give Rythu Bharosa amount in one go. The amount is increased from Rs. 12,500 to Rs. 13,500 with State contributing Rs. 7,500 and Centre Rs. 6,000. This will be given in three installments. Jagan has proposed to give Rs. 7,500 to farmers in May, Rs. 4,000 in October and Rs. 2,000 in Sankranthi. Centre is also giving its component in three installments. Reports say that Jagan made a smart move to make the entire Bharosa funds look like his government’s support to the farmers.