I have Compiled the Whole News of What had Happened,

to Our CM Y S Rajashekhar Reddy from Wednesday Morning up till Today

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Story On Wednesday:

YSR’s chopper goes missing over dense Naxal & tiger-infested Andhra jungle

Country’s Biggest Ever Search For The Man Who Helped Cong Retain Control Of New Delhi

Satellites To Tribals, Americans To Sukhois, All Pressed Into Action

Hyderabad: A helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nallamala forests and with no contact until early Thursday, experts and officials feared the worst.

Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in

the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into India’s biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deerhunting tribals with bows and arrows. The Air Force pressed its topline Sukhoi-30 MKI into a night search and flew in Dornier and Avro reconnaissance aircraft. US ambassador Tim Roemer and Union home minister P Chidambaram spoke several times through the evening and the US volunteered to provide information picked up by its satellites.

It was a flight that should not have taken off at all. The Met office had forecast not only heavy rainfall but the likelihood of fierce lightning and thunderstorms. But the 60-year-old politician was adamant. He was to kickstart a new village mass-contact programme called Rachabanda from Chittoor district (better known for housing the Tirupati temple) at 10.30am and there was no way that he was missing his appointment.

The Bell 430 took off at 8.38am from Begumpet airport, not more than 2km from Reddy’s residence, on its 500-km journey. For about 30 minutes, things were fine and the pilot was in touch with the air traffic control. But soon after entering the space over the Nallamala forests, it ran into problems. Rain was thick and visibility was zero. What happened thereafter remains a mystery so far but in all probability, the helicopter went down. It was last in contact with the ATC at 9.12am. It had fuel to fly for 2.45 hours, enough to make it to Chittoor.

Apart from Reddy, the chopper was carrying principal secretary to CM S Subrahmanyam and YSR’s chief security officer ASC Wesley. The craft was being piloted by group captain S K Bhatia and captain M S Reddy.

‘‘It was last sighted by villagers between Atmakur and Bandiatmakur close to Rollapenta entering the Nallamala forests from Kurnool district towards Prakasam district between 9.15am and 9.30am,’’ chief secretary P Ramakanth Reddy said.

Pilot’s last msg: Climbing 550...

Chennai: “Victor Tango Alpha Pappa Golf calling Chennai radio. We are from Hyderabad heading for Chittoor. Departed Begumpet at . We are climbing 550 (5,500 ft). Expected time of arrival at Chittoor.”

“Roger.”

That was the last radio communication between the pilot of the fateful helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and the Flight Information Region (FIR) in Chennai. That was around 9.10 am. After a few minutes, the pilot radioed the Hyderabad control that he would be in contact with Chennai, following which Hyderabad handed over the control to the Chennai FIR.

“We haven’t heard anything from the chopper after that,” an air traffic official privy to the last communication told TOI, explaining the firefighting that followed. According to protocol, if no communication is received from an aircraft 30 minutes after its control is handed over to an FIR, the centre goes about plotting three phases: Uncertainty phase, alert phase and distress phase, each at an interval of 30 minutes.

Hearing nothing from the chopper, which was to communicate using a high frequency radio (HF), Chennai FIR kept switching between two HF radios, 6655 KHz and 8909 KHz. “Chennai radio calling Victor Tango Alpha Pappa Golf. Are you reading?” No reply. FIR then tuned into the very high frequency (VHF) band of 123.4 MHz, usually used for communication between pilots.

“We wanted to see if the pilot lost our frequency and was trying some other pilot. When there was still no reply, we tried the universal emergency frequency 121.5 MHz, to which any pilot in an emergency situation is expected to tune in. That too drew a blank,” the source said.

FIR then initiated the ‘uncertainty phase’ and sent out signals to all air traffir control stations and airports in the vicinity such as Tirupati, Mangalore, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore and Hyderabad about the missing chopper.

The ‘alert phase’ started around 10.40 am and all the stations were called up to inquire about any signals they received. The air traffir management and Airports Authority of India top brass were then informed before going into the ‘distress phase’. Subsequently, the regional coordination centre attached to the FIR took over the case.

9.35am Copter declared missing. Last known coordinates: 168°, 79 nautical miles from Hyderabad. Around 10.15am, private choppers pressed into search operations

1.30pm Defence Chetak choppers join search but are forced to return within an hour because of bad weather

2.30pm 2 IAF MI-8 choppers mobilized. Dornier and Avro planes called in. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle put on stand-by

5.30pm 5 companies of CRPF (600 men) enter Nallamala forest with night vision devices. By sunset, 20 teams, including 3 columns of Army, state police (including anti-Naxal squads), forest and revenue officials enter 1,000 sqkm area

Primitive tribe of Chenchus, who hunt with bows and arrows, approached for assistance

6.30pm Chopper search called off due to poor light & bad weather. After sundown, IAF’s Sukhoi-30 MKI with thermal imaging devices used

Quick Facts First became an MLA in 1978 at 29, and a state minister 2 years later

In 2003, undertook a padayatra of the state, which helped him deal a stunning defeat to Chandrababu Naidu in the 2004 Assembly polls

Confounded pundits and pollsters to lead Cong to 33 LS seats from Andhra in 2009, highest won by the party in any state PROMINENT INDIANS KILLED

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Story On Thursday up till  Now!!

dead body of YSR Reddy in the Forest

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Hyderabad: The body of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is yet to be laid to rest, but mourning in Hyderabad has given way to ugly power politics with the deceased chief minister’s loyalists on Thursday unleashing a strident campaign for making his son Jaganmohan Reddy the new chief minister.

The campaign — quite unprecedented for the vulgar haste with which it has been mounted — reached a crescendo by evening when K Rosaiah was sworn in as interim CM. The erstwhile YSR cabinet in the presence of new CM Rosaiah passed a resolution on Thursday evening demanding that Jagan — just 100 days into formal politics — be made the new CM.

‘‘Jagan knew the mind of Rajasekhara Reddy. He alone can finish the unfulfilled agenda of his father,’’ said government chief whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka who is marshalling the MLAs in favour of Jagan. Analysts said that more than Jagan it’s the lobby that gained from YSR that wants the son to take over the reins of the state, with a view to perpetuate status quo.

Congress sources in Delhi, however, said the high command was taking a dim view of this unseemly strong-arm tactic to push through Jagan as CM. They threw up other names as possible successor: Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, minister of state for defence Pallam Raju, NTR’s daughter and junior Union minister Purandeswari Devi and acting CM K Rosaiah. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh who are reaching here on Friday are expected to take stock of the situation.

Minutes after the bodies were recovered, the ‘‘Jagan-as-CM’’ campaign picked up momentum. Almost all the state ministers, about 22 MPs and several Congress legislators pitched Jagan’s case to the media even as hundreds of workers raised pro-Jagan slogans at the secretariat, party HQ and traffic intersections. Rosaiah sworn in as interim CM By the afternoon, the Jagan group met Union law minister M Veerappa Moily at the Lake View guest house in pursuance of their demand even as many Congress MLAs faxed individual memorandum to the party headquarters in New Delhi in support of Jagan as CM.

By the evening, minutes after K Rosaiah was sworn in as chief minister, the Jagan loyalists met governor N D Tiwari and submitted a list of 122 signatures in support of him being made the chief minister. According to sources, there was even an attempt to pressure the governor to swear in Jagan as acting CM immediately, but that was abandoned as Rosaiah had already been sworn in by the time the loyalists reached Raj Bhavan.

Analysts said that the Jagan camp realised that there would be a power struggle for the CM’s post and therefore decided to make the pitch first. An ungainly battle is imminent as there are many other aspirants for the CM’s post including Rajya Sabha members V Hanumantha Rao and K Keshava Rao, apart from Jaipal Reddy, Pallam Raju and Purandeshwari Devi.

Jagan, 36, is a first time MP from Cuddapah and is merely 100 days old in politics. While Veerappa Moily made it clear that Rosaiah was only an interim CM and that the Congress high command will chose YSR’s successor in the next few days, the Jagan votaries seem ready to take on the central leadership on the issue. All this seem to indicate that the battle for power in the state is set to intensify. “We are waiting for YSR’s last rites to be completed. It will be no holds barred after that,” said a Jagan aide.

How, When And Where

YSR’s body, along with four others accompanying him, found among mangled remains of the Bell-430 on Rudrakonda hill in Nallamala forest, 55km east of Kurnool on Thursday morning

Chopper had deviated from flight path above Atmakur village amid pouring rain. It flew in almost-zero visibility for 18km before it hit a hillock and exploded

YSR, a Christian, will be buried in ancestral village of Pulivendula in Cuddapah today Battle for power likely to intensify after last rites are completed

How They Traced the Copter?

Careful and resourceful use of cellphone data led to the search for late Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy narrowing to a patch of the Nallamala forests. Radiation and signal  in cellphone on board the illfated chopper, recorded by mobile towers and retrieved from a central computer, helped zero in on the crash site.

The data, along with trace of an SMS delivered at 12.06 pm on Wednesday to one of the mobiles on board, helped those monitoring the situation at the secretariat in Hyderabad to mark out a 10 sq km of the forests. The signal from cellphones was recorded by towers, which were present even in the remote area.

Along with the cellphones, the data from the pictures recorded by an Isro plane equipped with remote sensing facilities, helped the search. Also useful were the visual sightings by some villagers who saw the low flying chopper. On Thursday, commandos slithered down at the crash site and put the bodies into gunny bags which were then winched up to the IAF chopper.

After failing to identify the location of the crashed chopper, the crisis team finally tracked the signal from the mobile phone — which actually received the SMS about twoand-half hours after the helicopter went missing — to find out the exact ‘coordinates’ of the area. It was, subsequently, corroborated by tribals who had last seen the chopper in the nearby Atmakur area.

Around midnight on Wednesday, while analysing data sent by Sukhoi-30, Chetak and MI-8 choppers, Group Captain Rajesh Issar of the IAF — one of the members of the Crisis Management team and commander of the IAF’s Helicopter Training School in Hyderabad — realised that the information gathered was inadequate to pinpoint the accident site. Thousands of images received from nearly eight hours of sorties by choppers and IAF’s topline fighter Sukhoi-30 MKI had failed to give any hint of the location. Sources in the defence ministry said members of the Crisis Committee, comprising state police chief and IAF experts, at this point picked up call details of mobile phones and the last towers through which these phones had received signals and the vital SMS — which is learnt to have been received on the mobile phone of YSR’s security officer John Wesley.

The Battle of Succession!!

Jaganmohan Reddy | Overwhelming choice of MLAs, most of whom are YSR loyalists. But a greenhorn in politics, he could be hemmed in by factional leaders. Cong brass does not want to give in to pressure tactics

S Jaipal Reddy | Erudite urban development minister is long on experience and a trusted Sonia Gandhi loyalist. Wary of state politics, he could find the going tough

Purandeswari Devi | Visakapatnam MP seen as promising junior minister. Carries part of father NTR’s political legacy. Relative newcomer, lacks clearcut support group

K Rosaiah | Veteran politico who has been a minister in several Cong govts and is now interim CM. His caste doesn’t go in his favour, neither does he have a mass following. But as seniormost minister, can be a compromise

Pallam Raju | Educated and modern, the MoS defence has backward caste credentials. He has gained experience in govt but lacks exposure to state politics