Man arrested in Andhra Pradesh after Facebook post asking Maoists to punish MLA

A case was registered on a complaint by Pamarru legislator Uppuleti Kalpana apprehending a threat to her life.

A man in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district was Thursday arrested for his Facebook posts allegedly asking the Maoists to punish his local MLA for indulging in defection.

Handcuffs hang in a prison.(REUTERS/Representative image)

A case was registered against Goriparthi Nagabhushan Yadav under Andhra Pradesh SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the Indian Penal Code on a complaint by Pamarru legislator Uppuleti Kalpana, apprehending a threat to her life as the post seemingly abetted the extremists to commit an attack on her, besides defaming her reputation, Deputy superintendent of police P Mahesh Babu said.

In her complaint, Kalpana said Yadav uploaded two posts on August 21 and September 23 respectively saying the MLA had switched from the YSR Congress to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) just like she changes her sarees. One of the posts had even asked the Maoists as to why they stopped at Araku to kill defected MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao, suggesting they should have come to Amaravati to award similar punishment to other defected MLAs.

“The posts are a clear indication suggesting the hand of YSR Congress in the killing of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma. The mysterious silence of YSRC leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on the Maoist violence and his failure to visit the bereaved family members reinforced our suspicion”, Kalpana told Hindustan Times.

Sarveswara Rao and Soma were intercepted and shot dead by Maoists on September 23 when they were returning from a government-sponsored ‘village visit’ programme.

YSR Congress senior leader and former minister Dharmana Prasada Rao however denied Kalpana’s charge, saying the TDP is resorting to cheap tactics to gain political mileage out of sensitive issues.

Kalpana was elected on the YSR Congress ticket and shifted loyalties to the TDP in December 2016 along with 22 fellow MLAs. Yadav claimed to have worked for the victory of Kalpana as a YSRC activist during the elections.

In April, 2017 the AP police arrested Inturi Ravikiran, a blogger for publishing a caricature in his blog “Political Punch” belittling the stature of chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son and IT Minister Nara Lokesh. Subsequently, the police raided the YSRC head office in Hyderabad searching for evidences establishing the party’s cyber crimes which triggered a cyber war between the ruling TDP and the YSRC at that time.