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Andhra governor battles sex taint
Amidst the continuous live coverage of bandhs, protests and resignations over Telangana, people woke up Christmas morning to shocking pictures aired by a local news channel of an old man in bed with three young women.

The Telugu news channel ABN telecast the pictures saying the man shown was the 84-year-old governor of Andhra, Narayan Dutt Tiwari.
Awright Narayan! Wotta stud!
A woman named Radhika sent the girls in return for mining projects she was promised, the channel said. As the promise was not kept, she handed over some pictures taken by her. The man in the pictures is wearing only a shirt and lying on his back, between two women. The third woman is at his feet.

Tiwari's office called the pictures a "pack of lies" and speedily obtained an order from the high court preventing the channel from running them.

The story had been on air for almost an hour by then. Those who missed, caught it on YouTube and news sites.

By early afternoon protests started outside Raj Bhavan. Telugu Desam leader and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu called for Tiwari's resignation saying the governor's office had been shamed. "If he doesn't quit," Naidu said, "he should be sacked."

"If it's really Tiwari in the pictures," said Congress sources in Delhi, "he will have to go."

Tiwari completed two years as Andhra governor in August. A long time Congress leader, he has been chief minister Uttarakhand and held several senior positions in the Union cabinet.

News channel ABN, which is owned by a popular Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi, also alleged the involvement of an Uttarakhand cadre officer. But did not elaborate.

In the evening, governor's office issued a statement saying, "The Governor is 86 years old and in the evening of his life. It is sad and unfortunate that constitutional functionaries are dragged into needless controversies."

Counsel for governor's office Ravishanker Jandhyala said, "There is absolutely no truth in the alleged news story, which is nothing but sensation mongering."

"We will definitely file a defamation case," he said, adding, "I issued a notice in the afternoon (to the channel)."

But the channel said it was ready to defend its story. "We have evidence (to back) what we have shown," Vemuri Radhakrishna, editor in chief of Andhra Jyothi, told Hindustan Times. "Let them serve defamation notice ... we are even ready to deal with the issue in the courts," he added.

"The footage shown is very recent (and) we got it from the victims," he said.
Posted by: john frum 2009-12-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=286402