ANDHRA CM YSR REDDY DIES IN | CHOPPER CRASH

The helicopter was traced in mangled state on Rudrakonda hill, 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool..




Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, known better as YSR, died in a helicopter crash on Thursday after his helicopter carrying him went missing over a dense forest area dominated by Maoist rebels.

Bodies of YSR Reddy and four others werer found, according to PTI.

The helicopter was traced in mangled state on Thursday on Rudrakonda hill, 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool.

The state-owned twin engine, seven-seater helicopter, Bell-430, he was flying in disappeared over the Nallamalla forest area in heavy rains at 9.35am on Wednesday, about an hour after it started, state officials said.

The chief minister was on his way from Hyderabad to Chittoor in Rayalaseema region in southern Andhra Pradesh on an official programme.

Reddy, 60, a powerful politician who had never lost an election during his 30-year political career, led the Congress party to victories in both state and Parliament elections in May, and was just months into his second term as chief minister.

He had won his first term as chief minister in 2004, defeating N. Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party, or TDP, son-in-law of the popular actor-politician and former chief minister N. T. Rama Rao.

Reddy, a second generation Roman Catholic Christian, was born on 8 July 1949 in Pulivendula, a small town in the state’s Kadapa district. Before taking a plunge into politics in 1978, Reddy served as medical officer at CSI Campbell Hospital in Jammalamadugu in Kadapa district after graduating in medical science from the MR College of Gulbarga.

The four-time Lok Sabha member has served in various capacities both in the state government and in the Congress party. He served the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee as its president twice, once in 1983-85 and then in 1998-2000.

Between 1999 and 2004, he was the leader of the Opposition in the eleventh State Assembly. And earlier, from 1980 to 1983, YSR had also served as a minister in the state government, holding portfolios of rural development, medical and health and education.

Becoming chief minister was a long cherished dream for YSR. Prior to the 2004 state elections, he led an unprecedented 1,400km-long paadayatra covering all the backward areas in the state. He said he was on a mission to understand the ground realities of the people.

ICC Awards 2009 : Indians lead nominees list

The list of nominees shortlisted for the various LG ICC Annual Awards for 2009 was announced in Mumbai on Wednesday.

In the initial list of nominees, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, left-hander Gautam Gambhir and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh made the grade for the Cricketer of the Year award.

The trio have also been nominated, in the initial list, for the Test player of the year award along with stylish VVS Laxman.



For the One-day International player of the year, skipper Dhoni, dashing batsman Yuvraj Singh and opener Virender Sehwag are in the initial list of nominees.

Amit Mishra was nominated as the emerging player of 2009.

Indian pacer Zaheer Khan also found his name in the list of nominees, after he was named as a strong contender for the T20 Performer of the Year award.

In the women's section, Mithali Raj and Priyanka Roy were nominated.

The sixth ICC annual awards ceremony is scheduled to be held at Johannesburg during the ICC Champions Trophy.


Individual Awards


Cricketer of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Saqib Al Hasan (Ban)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Graham Onions (Eng)
Thilan Samaraweera (SL)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
Harbhajan Singh (Ind)
Graeme Smith (SA)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)
Daniel Vettori (NZ)
AB de Villiers (SA)

Test Player of the Year

Stuart Broad (Eng)
Michael Clarke (Aus)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)
Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Saqib Al Hasan (Ban)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
VVS Laxman (Ind)
Jesse Ryder (NZ)
Thilan Samaraweera (SL)
Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI)
Peter Siddle (Aus)
Harbhajan Singh (Ind)
Graeme Smith (SA)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)
Graeme Swann (Eng)
Daniel Vettori (NZ)
AB de Villiers (SA)



ODI Player of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Andrew Flintoff (Eng)
Chris Gayle (WI)
Umar Gul (Pak)
Martin Guptill (NZ)
Michael Hussey (Aus)
Nuwan Kulasekara (SL)
Ajantha Mendis (SL)
Muttiah Muralidaran (SL)
Yuvraj Singh (Ind)
Virender Sehwag (Ind)
Thilan Thushara (SL)


Emerging Player

Martin Guptill (NZ)
Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus)
Philip Hughes (Aus)
Amit Mishra (Ind)
Graham Onions (Eng)
Kemar Roach (WI)
Jesse Ryder (NZ)
Peter Siddle (Aus)


Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year

Rizwan Cheema (Can)
Khurram Chohan (Can)
Alex Cusack (Ire)
Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)
Trent Johnston (Ire)
Neil McCallum (Sco)
Kevin O'Brien (Ire)
Niall O'Brien (Ire)
William Porterfield (Ire)
Boyd Rankin (Ire)
Edgar Schiferli (Ned)
Steve Tikolo (Ken)
Regan West (Ire)
Bas Zuiderent (Ned)


Twenty20 International Performance of the Year

Shahid Afridi
Saeed Ajmal
Dwayne Bravo
Alex Cusack
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Chris Gayle
Umar Gul
David Hussey
Sanath Jayasuriya
Zaheer Khan
Ajantha Mendis
Wayne Parnell
Abdur Razzak
David Warner


Women's Cricketer of the Year

Suzie Bates (NZ)
Holly Colvin (Eng)
Charlotte Edwards (Eng)
Laura Marsh (Eng)
Sana Mir (Pak)
Shelley Nitschke (Aus)
Mithali Raj (Ind)
Karen Rolton (Aus)
Priyanka Roy (Ind)
Lisa Sthalekar (Aus)
Claire Taylor (Eng)
Sarah Taylor (Eng)
Stafanie Taylor (WI)
Haidee Tiffin (NZ)
Aimee Watkins (NZ)


Umpire of the Year

Billy Bowden
Aleem Dar
Steve Davis
Ian Gould
Tony Hill
Daryl Harper
Asad Rauf
Simon Taufel

IPL-II likely to take Rs. 34 crore hit

he IPL season I in India turned out to be a money-spinner. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) grossed Rs. 662 crore from it and met its commitments to the eight franchises paying Rs. 230 crore as their share from the central and local revenue pool and distributed Rs. 202 crore to 25 State units.

The BCCI also paid Rs. 43 crore to the International Management Group (IMG), a global sports entertainment and media company that was involved right through from the IPL foundation to executing the event.

Higher expenditure
Having received their share of the money, the State units expected an increase from the IPL season II. But the shifting of the IPL to South Africa resulted in higher expenditure and an estimated deficit of Rs. 34 crore as against a surplus of Rs. 15 crore from the first season.

According to sources, the BCCI has estimated an expenditure of Rs. 73 crore on production costs for staging the tournament in South Africa as against an actual expenditure of Rs.51 crore incurred in India last year.

The BCCI has also drawn up an estimated expenditure of Rs. 148 crore (tournament expenses) for the event in South Africa as against an actual cost of Rs.73 crore in India. The BCCI has also estimated a payment of Rs. 37 crore to IMG as agency fees and commission for season II.

After the BCCI AGM in September 2008, the IMG fee was renegotiated to Rs. 33 crore.

“It was discussed at the Working Committee and the BCCI was advised to renegotiate,” said a representative of the association who attended the Working Committee here in the second week of August.

A BCCI official said that members advised us to renegotiate with IMG because a large part of the matches are organised by State associations.

After the IPL I season in India BCCI and IMG officials met in Bangkok — all the franchises were also present — and a number of times after the IPL II in London and in Mumbai. The BCCI requested IMG to come up with a fresh proposal with regard to its remuneration. The IMG was not prepared for this.

Rival stands
On August 28, the BCCI officially informed the IMG that their services will not be required anymore, while the IMG’s senior vice-president, Andrew Wildblood has replied saying: “Since the proposed fixed fee variation (Rs. 33 crore) has not been ratified by the BCCI, the original commission-based system remuneration continue to apply.

It’s also perhaps worth pointing out that, despite the effort and commitment made by IMG to successfully relocate the tournament to South Africa in 2009, IMG has yet to be paid anything other than an amount suggested on account of our out of pocket expenses.”

Mr. Wildblood has finally told N. Srinivasan, Secretary, BCCI that that “the clarifications in this letter will lead you to reconsider your position and in the meantime we reserve all our rights and remedies at law under and in respect of the contract.”

While the BCCI-IMG tussle looks to continue and would be discussed at the IPL Governing Council meeting here on Wednesday, the BCCI has estimated a combined payment of Rs. 303 crore from the Central and Local Pool revenue to the franchises (as against their combined annual fee of Rs. 289 crore to the IPL) and Rs. 202 crore to the 25 State units from the projected Rs. 774 crore revenue earned from season II.

The contribution from media rights is put at Rs. 355 crore.