The just concluded by polls were by far the most interesting and bitterly contested by polls ever in the state. It is none other than the big separate Telangana issue that was the main reason behind the by polls. For KCR, these polls are a do or die battle. The future of KCR as well as that of the TRS hinges on the results of the by polls.
The exit polls have not exactly pleased KCR. Even the pre-poll surveys reported that the TRS was sure to lose some seats.
According to the exit poll results, the TRS may retain about 10 assembly seats from the 16 that it held before the by polls. Out of the four Lok Sabha seats, the TRS is ahead in two and neck and neck in the third seat. So here also, the TRS is set to lose one or two seats.
The ruling congress is expected to bag anywhere between three and four assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat. Even the TDP is expected to romp home with two or three assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.
The counting will begin at 8.00 a.m. on Sunday and the results will be out in about two hours time, i.e.by 10.00 a.m. Till then the guessing game continues and the leaders are all tensed up.
New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Pregnant wrestler Sonika Kaliraman has made a voluntary exit from reality show "Bigg Boss 5".
She will exit the show in Monday's episode on the channel Colors, said a statement from the TV channel.
Sonika, the daughter of renowned wrestler Chandgi Ram, is six months pregnant. Her entry on the controversial reality show Oct 2 raised concerns about her health, which could have been affected by the topsy-turvy schedules.
But given the recent ups and downs and the turbulent environment in the "Bigg Boss 5" house, thanks to a war of words between VJ Pooja Misrra and other housemates, she was offered the opportunity to leave the show and return home.
Sonika was overjoyed at the prospect and announced that she was going home to live peacefully with her husband and family.
Though she was beaming with joy upon her exit, her fellow contestants bid her a tearful farewell and gave her their good wishes, said a source.
As Sonika chose to exit the show, actor Amar Upadhyay will be the new entry Monday.
"Bigg Boss 5" started with 14 contestants, locked inside a house, without any connection with the outside world.
The much-touted TRS backed candidates did not do well and the union backed by KCR managed to win only three out of the eleven divisions. The communists backed AITUC bagged seven divisions and retained its position as the recognized trade union. The congress backed AITUC managed to win in just one division.
This is seen as a severe setback for the TRS chief Chandrashekar Rao as he touted the Singareni elections as a precursor to the assembly polls. A good show here would have strengthened his hands and also the image of the party. The TDP backed the AITUC in a last minute arrangement, which also was one of the factors for the defeat of the Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangam.
2008/5/12 2:09:34 The ensuing by polls are turning out to be a big source of worry and headache to the TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao. Many TRS activist themselves are saying of the record that the party will not be able to retain all the 16 assembly seas and the four parliament seats.
The reasons for the setback are being put squarely at the door of KCR. He is being blamed to have forced the MLAs to quit and go in for fresh polls. Many TRS MLAs have a pos rerecord as legislators in the last fours years. The people in their consistencies are none to happy with their track record.
KCR’s highhandedness and internal bickering will cost the party dearly, say some senior TRS men. By current indications, the TRS is facing an uphill task in two Lok Sabha and eight assembly constituencies i.e. in 50 percent of the seats.
2007/10/13 9:17:10 Congress president gave a big shock to TDP chief Chandara Babu Naidu. Her announcement in Delhi on Friday came as not only a shock but also a big setback to the grand plans of Babu. Sonia stated clearly that there was no chance of a mid-term poll in the country. She said that the government would complete its full five-year term. Babu, who was gearing up in anticipation of imminent polls, started announcing sops in a big way. And he even started hitting the road with his read shows. Now all this will have to be stopped. With no polls round the corner, the situation is back to square one for the TDP. Babu will now have to cools his heels for a good 18 months before the next elections to come up.
2008/6/2 2:15:04 The severe drubbing received by the TRs in the by polls has not only come as a sweet surprise to the congress and the TDP, but the real estate dealers in and around Hyderabad are also rejoicing in a big way.
It has been reported earlier that the real estate dealers were pumping in huge amounts of money for the rivals of the TRS. The setback to the TRS has put the separate Telangana sentiment on hold for some time. So, the real estate activity will now pick up once again in a big way.
2012/3/16 7:18:10 Chief Electoral officer Banwarlal on Friday stated that the Election Commission has set up 660 polling booths in seven assembly segments where by-elections would be held on March 18.
Briefing the media about the arrangements for the by-elections, he said that the Commission has taken all measures for the conduct of polls in a free and fair manner by voters. Apart from imposing ban on exit poll surveys, the commission has also imposed ban on electronic media over the campaigns. The commission has also imposed a ban on sending bulk SMS for the next 48 hours, he said.
Bhanwarlal said that the commission has also imposed ban on sale of liquor till the completion of polling. He said that the commission has seized Rs 9 crore cash from the poll-bound areas. He warned that the commission would take stern action the officials who indulge in poll irregularities and try to influence the voters through money or liquor. (INN)
2011/11/15 10:05:18 Washington, Nov 15 (IANS) Indian director Tarsem Singh's visually-stunning epic 3D adventure "Immortals" has opened to a record estimated haul of $32.2 million in 3,112 locations in North America and $38 million internationally in 35 countries.
Opening Nov 11, the film impressively took the number one spot in America and became the highest R-Rated action film this year and the third highest-grossing R-rated film debut in 2011 behind "The Hangover 2" ($85.9mm) and "Paranormal Activity 3" ($52.6mm), according to Kyle Davies, Relativity Media's President of Worldwide Distribution.
Made by the producers of "300" Mark Canton, Gianni Nunnari and Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh, "Immortals" is completely original and not based on a comic book, novel or a previous film.
Relativity mounted a robust marketing and publicity campaign toward a broad audience, beginning by targeting the elusive under 35 male demographic, and leveraging innovative partnerships, Davies said.
Exit polls indicate that Immortals reached that specific group and beyond, as 75 percent of its audience was under 35 (with 60 percent of that audience consisting of males and 40 percent comprising of females) and 25 percent was 35 and over.
Exit polls also indicated very strong response in both rating and recommendation scores from the younger demographic (males and females under 25). 70 percent of locations played the film in 3D. 66 percent of the gross was on 3D screens with 34 percent on 2D.
Relativity owns worldwide rights to "Immortals" with Lionsgate handling foreign sales.
2008/4/17 14:41:50 The Telugu Desam Party chief Chandra Babu Naidu is very optimistic about the chances of the TDP in the ensuing by polls. He says that the fight would be mainly between the TRS and the TDP. The congress party is nowhere in the picture.
Babu is confident that the TDP will put up a good show in the by polls and surprise everyone. Babu reasons that both the TRS and the congress have taken the people for a ride by making false promises.
It was a double setback for Eenadu chief Ramoji Rao. The session’s court at Nampally in Hyderabad struck down his petition to stall the CID searches at Margadarsi Financiers offices in the state.
In a related development, the Foreign Investment Development Board did not take any decision on the proposal by Blackstone to bring in about 1,200 crore as equity in ETV and Ramoji film city.
This is a severe setback as Ramoji Rao now faces a liquidity crunch with the firm now has been barred from accepting fresh deposits.
The Margadarsi Financiers has collected over 2,600 crore as deposits in violation of the RBI guidelines. Of this, the firm has reported a loss of 1,100 crore.
2007/8/25 5:31:47 Ramoji Rao suffered a setback when the Supreme Court upheld the state government’s contention that the names of all the depositors and their addresses be provided. Margadarsi has been dodging the issue and the details of some depositors that it provided were vague and did not have details like address etc.
The court asked Margadarsi to immediately deposit the unclaimed matured amount in an escrow account. The firm has also been asked to provide complete details about the bank accounts of Margadarsi.
2008/4/16 8:05:13 The election commission has finally drawn up the schedule for the by polls to the seats vacated by the TRS and for Khairatabad where the vacancy has been caused by the untimely death of PJR. The polls will be held on May 29. The nomination process will commence from March 2. The results will be announced on June 1.
So it is going to be a 'really hot' summer this year. The congress party and the TDP have only something to gain but nothing much to lose. The polls are an acid test for KCR as the onus of getting all the MLAs and MPs who resigned recently elected once again rests on him. There is a strong resistance to some of the candidates from within the party.
Is the recent shuffle of party leaders in the AICC a setback for the CM? Yes, say seasoned political observers. Digvijay Singh, with home YS shares a very good rapport has been shifted. Moily now steps into his shoes.
Two known critics of YS Rajashekar Reddy have been inducted into the AICC. Kishore Chandra Dev has been made a General Secretary and Madhu Yashki Goud has been made secretary of the AICC. Yashki is a vocal supporter of separate Talangana and is also known to be a critic of the chief minister Y S Rajshekar Reddy.
The Congress and the Telugu Desam Party are like cat and mouse. They never agree on any thing. They are always fighting on all issues big and small.
However the by polls in Kadapa and Pulivendula seems to have brought them together on one thing. Both the Congress and the TDP don’t want Jagan and his mother to win.
The two parties agree that if Jagan manages to win both the assembly and parliament seats then he will become unstoppable in the state.
So Jagan’s rise will be huge setback to both these parties.
2011/5/12 22:08:04 The early trends in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Pulivendula show that today is the ladies’ day out. Mamata Banerjee is all set to become the new chief minister of West Bengal.
Jayalalitha is also winning with a huge margin with her party way ahead of the DMK. Jaya is sure to become the new CM of Tamil Nadu.
In Andhra Pradesh Vijayamma wife of late YS Rajashekar Reddy is leading with a huge margin of 20,000 votes.
While Friday May 13 is proving to be a big day for ladies, it is a bad day for another lady – Sonia Gandhi. The setback in Tamil Nadu and the poor show in Kadapa and Pulivendula are indeed a big blow for Sonia Gandhi.
The crucial by polls in Kadapa and Pulivendula will be held tomorrow. The situation in Kadapa is tense and the election commission has pressed into service a large number of police personnel in all the places in the two constituencies.
DGP Aravinda Rao stated that all arrangements are in place to conduct polls in a free and fair manner. Additional police forces are being brought in from Tamil Nadu and Kerala to be deployed in Kadapa.
TRS chief K Chandra Shekar Rao claims that the state will go to elections early next year. KCR predicted that there world be snap polls to the state assembly in March 2008. Elections are due only in 2009 but even some congressmen do not rule out advancement of polls in the state.
Last month we told you that the buxom Ayesha Takia will be Aamir Khan ’s heroine in the Hindi remake of the Tamil hit Ghajini .
Directed by A R Murugadoss and produced by Madhu Varma (a relative of Ram Gopal Varma ) and Alu Arvind, Aamir’s yet-untitled film had roped in Ayesha as one of the female leads for the film.
But now, Ayesha has walked out of the film.
The Hindi remake of ‘Ghajini’ is a two-heroine project, and after finalising Ayesha, the filmmakers were hunting for the second leading lady.
Talks were initiated with Kangana Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra , but with Ayesha now walking out, the filmmakers are facing a double setback.
Ayesha’s exit is a mystery as she was very charged about working with Aamir.
Something obviously seems to have gone wrong, but no one really knows what, says an inside source.
Ayesha admitted saying in a report that she has walked out of the film but refused to give any reason saying, “All I can say is that there were some irrevocable differences. Beyond that, I cannot say anything. It’s pointless to talk about a project I am not doing anymore.”
Mahesh Babu normally does not attend public functions. It is only on rare occasions that he makes an appearance.
The wedding reception of Jr. NTR was indeed one such rare occasion when the Prince made an appearance.
The moment Mahesh Babu entered the wedding stage there was a mad rush to see him from close quarters.
The security personnel were simply unable to manage the big rush of people and it was like total chaos. Seeing the situation Mahesh Babu quickly greeted the NTR couple and left the venue hurriedly.
The situation came to normal only after the exit of Mahesh Babu.
2011/6/16 5:38:52 Information and Public Relation Minister D K Aruna on Thursday said that the government is willing to conduct the elections for Panchayat Raj institutions, contrary to reports stating that the stay on the polls by a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has given the ruling Congress a lifeline.
Talking to media persons after attending the Cabinet meeting at the Secretariat, Ms Aruna asserted that the government was willing to conduct the polls for the PR Institutions, in response to calls for clarifications on the High Court ruling.
Asked to clarify the government stand on the High Court’s recent ruling striking down GO 128 in respect of the quota for BCs, the Minister said that the government was in favour of PR elections in the light of Apex Court’s Order that the ceiling of 50 percent be observed.
Earlier, she made clear that the state Cabinet did not discuss on GO 128 at all. “The government is for polls at any time,” Ms Aruna said.
Meanwhile, official sources say that the government has another month’s time, till July 21, to arrive at a decision to go ahead with the said polls.(INN)
2008/6/2 1:52:07 After the TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao, it is the senior TDP leader T Devender Goud who is shocked with the results in the by polls. Devender Goud has been the most vocal in the party on the Telangana issue and forced Babu to form a committee to go into the issue.
Devender Goud was conspicuous by his absence at the party headquarters even after the good show by the TDP. The good show by the TDP mean that voice of the ‘T’ leaders in the party would now be subdued.
Normally, it is Devender Goud who holds court at the TDP HQ in the absence of party supremo. Babu is now in Vijayawada but even then, Goud did not come out of his home, a clear indication that he was not happy with the good show put up by the TDP in the Telangana region.
