President brings birthday cake for Rosaiah

Hyderabad, Jul 4 : In a special gesture, President Prathibha Devisingh Patil, who is on a two-day visit to the city, brought a special cake from Mumbai for Chief Minister K Rosaiah on his 78th birthday today.The ''Presidential cake'' was cut at the dinner hosted by the Chief Minister in honour of the President at the Chandeliered Jubilee Hall here tonight.The President also presented a Shawl and a marble encrusted wooden artefact to the Chief Minister. The President will inaugurate the 500-year anniversary celebrations of the coronation of the legendary King Sri Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar empire on July 5.
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Prez, VP, PM, Sonia greet Rosaiah on B'day

Hyderabad, Jul 4 : President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hameed Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, were among the prominent personalities who greeted Chief Minister K Rosaiah on his 78th birthday today.While greeting the Chief Minister, the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson said his long experience of over six decades in public life and record stint as Finance Minister of Andhra Pradesh, would help the State to march forward on all fronts. Wishing Dr Rosaiah many more years of healthy and fruitful life, they hoped that with his simple living and high thinking he will set an example to others. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan, Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, P K Bansal and AICC in-charge of AP Affairs and Law Minister Veerappa Moily greeted the Chief Minister, a press release here said. A P Legislative Council Chairman N Chakrapani, Legislative Assembly Speaker N Kirankumar Reddy, cabinet minister and party colleagues, opposition Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao and CPI General Secretary K Narayana also greeted Dr Rosaiah. Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi, accompanied by his party leaders, greeted the Chief Minister at his residence. People from various walks of life thronged the Chief Minister's residence to greet him on his birthday.Accepting the greetings, Dr Rosaiah thanked the Almighty and everyone for giving him an opportunity to serve the State. He reiterated his commitment and dedication for the development and welfare of the people of Andhra Pradesh.
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Rosaiah turns 78

Hyderabad, July 4 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah Sunday celebrated his 78th birthday with family members, Congress leaders and other well-wishers.The veteran leader performed special prayers at his residence along with his family members. Priests from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam blessed the chief minister and offered prayers for his good health and long life. Congress leaders, ministers and other well-wishers made a beeline to his house to greet him. Youth Congress leaders cut a 78-kg cake on the occasion. Congress workers held various programmes like feeding the poor and blood donation camps in different parts of the state to celebrate Rosaiah's birthday. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, opposition leader N.Chandrababu Naidu, Praja Rajyam Party chief K.Chiranjeevi and leaders of other parties greeted the chief minister. Rosaiah, who has 60 years of political experience, took over as chief minister in September last year after Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash. In a message on the occasion of his birthday, Rosaiah said he considered chief ministership as an opportunity given by god to serve people. "My life's ambition is to attain salvation by serving the people," he said. Rosaiah said the state has a bright future and hoped that all parties will cooperate with him in making the state prosperous.
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Congress approves names of 8, candidates for Andhra Pradesh by-elections

New Delhi,Jul 4: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today approved the names of eight candidates for the bye-elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.The candidates included A Indrakaran Reedy from Sirpur, G Vinod from Chennur (SC) constituency, Mohammad Ali Shabbir from Yellareddy and Dharmapuri Srinivas from Nizamabad (Urban).Mr A Lakshman Kumar has been given ticket to contest from Dharmapuri(SC) constituency, Adi Srinivas from Vernulawada, K K Mahender Reddy from Sicilla and Kondapally Dayasagar Rao from Warangal (West).Incharge of Congress Election Committee (CEC) Mr Oscar Fernandes, said in a statement here.
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TDP gives Rs 10,000 to injured Journalist

Kakinada, Jul 4: Telugu Desam Party Polit Buro member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu today handed over Rs 10,000 as party's assistance to the family members of Tangella Nookaraju, city reporter of a Telugu daily, undergoing treatment for the fractures sustained in a road accident recently.Accompanied by district unit secretary Pilli Satyanarayanamurty, and former MLA Kondababu, he visited the government general hospital and enquired about his health. APWJF secretary V Naveenraj and Treasurer A Elia thanked the TDP leaders for the gesture. Ramakrishnudu promised to extend further assistance to the Journalists family to meet the treatment expenditure.
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APCC President, two former ministers to contest Andhra Pradesh bypolls

Hyderabad, Jul 4 : Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President D Srinivas and two former ministers -- G Vinod and Mohammad Ali Shabbir are among those who announced their candidature today to contest the July 27 byelections in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.Breaking its stand not to nominate defeated candidates, the Congress announced the candidature of Dharmapuri Srinivas from Nizamabad (Urban), G Vinod from Chennur (SC), Mohammed Ali Shabbir from Yellareddy and former MP A Indrakaran Reddy from Sirpur.Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) candidate, who had lost to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President K Chandrasekhara Rao's son T Tharaka Rama Rao from Sircilla by 171 votes and later filed an election petition in Andhra Pradesh High Court, was nominated as the Congress candidate from Sircilla.The other candidates whose names were announced were A Lakshman Kumar (Dharmapuri SC), Adi Srinivas (Vemulawada) and Kondapally Dayasagar Rao (Warangal (West), according to a press release issued by the APCC.The Congress is yet to name its candidates for four other constituencies.The last date for filing nominations is July 9.
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CPI(Maoists) joins BJP, Left Bharat Bandh call on July 5

Hyderabad, Jul 4: CPI(Maoists), under the onslaught of Operation ''Greenhunt'', has joined the 'Bharat Bandh' called by the BJP and Left parties tomorrow albeit on the violation of civil rights.The CPI Maoists themselves have called for a nationwide strike to protest against the killing of its leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, who was espousing the cause of landless adivasis and toiling masses and had called for stopping the Operation Greenhunt.The party had also warned the Andhra Pradesh Government that it would avenge the 'murder' of Azad along with journalist Hemachandra Pandey of Sahara Naiduniya from Uttarakhand. The Maoists also charged the state government with not being interested in peace though it was calling them for talks. The 'murder' of Cherukuri Rajkumar had exposed its intention. Rajkumar was the spokesman of the Maoist party for the proposed peace talks with Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram.Leading civil rights activist Swamy Agnivesh had also offered to mediate for peace talks. The BJP, the Left parties, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the AIADMK have called for a countrywide bandh tomorrow to protest against the increase in prices of cooking gas and kerosene by the Union Government.The Centre took the decision to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG Gas based on the Kirit Parikh recommendations to deregulate the fuel prices and allow the market to govern the prices.
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Maoists vow to avenge Azad's death

Hyderabad, July 4 : The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on Sunday vowed to take revenge over the death of its leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in Andhra Pradesh's Adilabad District."Azad was murdered brutally by Intelligence Bureau of the Central Government and Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of Andhra Pradesh with complete knowledge of Union home minister P Chidambaram," a statement issued by the CPI-Maoist said.The Maoists have also called for a 48-hour 'All India shutdown' from July 7 to protest Azad's killing. The Andhra Pradesh police reportedly shot dead Azad in an encounter in the Jogapur forest area early on Friday morning, while he was attempting to cross into the neighbouring Maharashtra.Azad was a member of the central committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and carried a reward of 1.2 million rupees on his head.Azad, who did his MTech in Warangal, was linked to the Maoist movement for more than 35 years and used to write articles for magazines on Maoist ideology.There are reports that Azad was assigned the task of revising the Maoist movement in India.Meanwhile, there are also reports that Azad's death could could lead to reprisal attacks in Maoist strongholds in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal following which the security agencies have sounded a high alert across these five States.Maoist attacks have increased this year, especially after the Government launched a coordinated security offensive involving tens of thousands of police trying to flush out the rebels from their jungle hideouts in central and eastern India.
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