Hyderabad, Oct 7 (PTI) The opposition BRS on Wednesday accused ruling Congress MLA in Telangana, Malreddy Ranga Reddy, of inappropriately touching a girl student in a moving bus of the State Road Transport Corporation (RTC).
In a video that has gone viral, Ranga Reddy (70), MLA from Ibrahimpatnam here, is seen having a conversation with two girl students on the Congress government’s ‘Mahalakshmi’ free bus scheme for women.
The girls told Ranga Reddy, who is seen holding a girl’s hand, that they have been travelling in the state-run buses for the last year and that they managed to save about Rs 45,000 annually.
BRS leader R S Praveen Kumar asked why the MLA should hold the girl’s hand and touch her inappropriately.
“Is it not an offence? Is it not outraging the modesty of a woman?” he told reporters here.
He demanded that the Telangana State Women’s Commission summon the MLA after obtaining legal opinion.
“DGP Women Safety, @TelanganaDGP, where are the SHE teams here? Take a complaint from the RTC conductor and book under 354 IPC. Both BJP and Congress are competing with each other in insulting women!” Praveen Kumar said in a post on X.
Ranga Reddy, however, said he was having a conversation about the scheme with the girl students with fatherly affection, which the BRS twisted.
In a video release, he said he boarded the bus at Bonguluru on the city outskirts after a meeting in the district Collector’s office on October 6.
He said he interacted with a cross-section of people on the bus, during which some girl students requested more buses due to the heavy rush of passengers.
The video shot on the bus while it was taking a turn is being interpreted wrongly by the BRS on social media, he said, expressing his respect for women. PTI SJR SJR ADB
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