A Telugu Desam Party (TDP) lawmaker Koneti Adimoolam was on Thursday suspended from the party on the charges of sexual assault of a woman, who was his party colleague in his constituency, Satyavedu of Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati district.
TDP state unit president Palla Srinivas Rao announced the suspension of Adimoolam in a statement, hours after the woman addressed a press conference in Tirupati and released video clippings of a sting operation done by her while he was sexually abusing her, supposedly at a hotel in the temple town.
The purpoted videos went viral on social media. “After getting a preliminary report from the local party leaders, TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu ordered that the MLA be suspended immediately, pending a detailed inquiry into the incident,” Rao said.
HT could not verify the veracity of the videos.
A senior party leader privy to the development said if proved guilty during the inquiry, Adimoolam would be expelled from the party and he would be asked to resign from his assembly membership.
Speaking to reporters, the woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted thrice by the MLA in July, who had blackmailed her stating that she and her family members would be killed if she revealed it to anyone.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to reporters, the woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted thrice by the MLA in July, who had blackmailed her stating that she and her family members would be killed if she revealed it to anyone.
{{/usCountry}}She further alleged that she had written to Naidu and party general secretary Nara Lokesh, explaining how the MLA had abused her sexually.
The woman said she had campaigned for Adimoolam during the recent assembly elections and he had taken her phone number. “Later he called me several times and started making sexual advances. Last month, he called me to a hotel room in Tirupati, where he sexually assaulted me,” she alleged.
She said she had decided to expose him and so when he called her to the hotel for the third time, she recorded the sexual assault with a secret camera as evidence.
Adimoolam, a sitting MLA from the Satyavedu constituency from Tirupati district, joined the TDP in January after quitting from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) who had refused to issue a ticket during the assembly elections.
He could not be contacted for reaction on the alleged video and his subsequent suspension from the party.