Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has expelled its MLA Koneti Adimulam, acting on a sexual harassment complaint by a woman party functionary.
Koneti, 67, represents Satyavedu, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. The senior leader, previously a YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) legislator, had joined the TDP ahead of this year’s general elections.
A statement issued by TDP state chief Palla Srinivasa Rao Thursday said the party suspended the MLA taking serious note of allegations of molestation levelled against him by the woman through various channels.
Speaking to Telugu news channels, the woman party worker referred to Koneti as “a psycho who stalked, harassed her with messages on phone at night and violently molested her after inviting her to a hotel room in Tirupati”.
“The MLA is a womaniser, habitual offender, there are several other victims like me. He is a blot on the party,” the woman, her face concealed by a mask, further said, adding that she had submitted a complaint to the TDP office along with a pen drive and call records, and a letter addressed to party supremo and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.
The woman told news channels that the alleged sexual harassment took place over the last two months. It was not immediately clear whether she had filed a police complaint.
TDP sources said that the CM, busy with Vijayawada flood mitigation, had expressed his fury and ordered disciplinary action.
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The move to expel Koneti, TDP leaders said, is to serve as a stern message.
“Our chief’s swift, stern action shows that TDP has no room, zero tolerance for such despicable deeds. We did not dilly-dally saying we will probe the allegations. The MLA’s suspension shows that levels, positions that do not matter in our party when it comes to heinous actions, crimes,” said Gouthu Sireesha, TDP leader and Palasa MLA.
When contacted, TDP spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagari alleged there were several such complaints against YSRCP leaders in the last five years but party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy never paid heed.
“YSRCP’s former Hindupur Lok Sabha MP Gorantla Madhav case is a classic example. Despite an obscene video call with a woman becoming public, Jagan did not even respond, let alone take action,” she told ThePrint.
The purported video was circulated on social media in August 2022, when YSRCP was in power. The TDP had then lodged a complaint against Gorantla with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Gorantla had claimed the video was morphed, and the “handiwork of TDP leaders to defame a backward class leader”. Andhra Pradesh Police too had then said the video “was not original”.
Tirunagari also mentioned YSRCP MLC Anantha Babu, who was in the news last month over an explicit video doing the rounds on social media.
The MLC vehemently denied the charges, claiming the video was doctored.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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