Jagan Corners Naidu Over Ravela Susheel "Stalking"

YSR Congress Party president and the Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today tried to put Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the mat by cornering the government over failing to take action against various TDP leaders for their alleged misdemeanours against women.

Speaking after Naidu's statement in the House in connection with the International Women's Day, Jagan seized the opportunity to embarrass the ruling TDP by raising various incidents in the recent past wherein women were allegedly subjected to humiliation by TDP leaders and yet the latter were not brought to book.

Reeling out instances in this regard, the YSRCP leader referred to the alleged stalking of a woman teacher by Ravela Susheel, son of Social Welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu, and also the comments made in a film function by actor-turned-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna, the TDP MLA from Hindupur and brother-in-law of the Chief Minister.

Apart from these incidents, Jagan also mentioned an incident in which a woman IAS cadre MRO was allegedly slapped by a TDP legislator, and another one of film star and YSRCP member Roja being suspended for one year from the Assembly.

Recalling these incidents amidst frequent interruptions and loud protests from the treasury benches, Jagan lashed out the Chief Minister for not taking any action against the "misconduct" of the TDP members and allowing them to remain as members of the Assembly, thereby tarnishing the image of the House.

What was more shocking was that the Chief Minister was eulogizing the role of women and batting for their empowerment in this background of not bringing to book his own Party members for degrading and disrespecting women, he said.

Even as a visibly shaken and upset Naidu sat sullen upon being cornered this by the Opposition leader, the TDP members launched a tirade against Jagan.

Minister Ravela Kishore Babu tried to defend himself by accusing Jagan of master-minding the whole incident involving his son. Reiterating that his son was innocent and that the law would take its own course against his son if found guilty, he said that in fact he himself had handed his son over to the police.

TDP member Chintamaneni Prabhakar, the one accused of slapping the woman MRO, accused the Opposition leader of misleading the House. Tahsildar Vanajakshi was in fact mobbed by DWACRA women members, and the official had not named him in her complaint to the police, he explained, and added that Jagan, who he claimed had scant respect for women, had no moral right to talk about their well-being.

Another TDP member Balakrishna, too, responding to the criticism by the Leader of the Opposition, explained that he had neither deliberately or unwittingly humiliated women, for whom he had great respect and admiration. The incident that had provoked the so-called controversy had taken place at a film function, and he had spoken on that occasion in a filmi style about what his fans expected of him as a hero in a film, he said. He expressed hope that his words at the function would not be misconstrued.