Some time ago, we have heard that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was selected by Chicago State University (CSU) for awarding its Doctorate of Humane Letters.
The Naidu government had claimed then that he was the first foreign political dignitary to get the doctorate from Chicago University and that the university had also requested Naidu for a special address emulating his vision of development, interaction with students, business, political and community leaders of the State.
Well, it turned out to be a bogus university and Naidu had never gone to Chicago to receive the doctorate award. It was just a political gimmick to fool the people.
Now, when Indian Council of Food and Agriculture announced the Leader of Agriculture award to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the CMO immediately claimed that it was the prestigious award from the Central government for his outstanding contribution to the agriculture sector and it was highlighted in the media prominently.
Even Governor E S L Narasimhan issued a statement complimenting KCR.
However, enquiries revealed that ICFR was not a government organisation but a private outfit with vested seed companies and other self-styled research organisation as partners.
The Congress party quickly exposed this hoax, saying the ICFA was a dubious private organization, which seems to be acting like a broker of global seed companies and appears to be indulging in lobbying with various governments to protect the business interests of seed companies.
Congress spokesman Dasoju Sravan questioned the audacity of KCR to have accepted such an award from a private agency being a Chief Minister.
He even raised a doubt if there is any nexus among seed companies, ICHA and KCR.
“The ICFA might have dubious interest in grating the award, but KCR should be sensible enough while accepting the award from a private organisation,” he said.
