Rebellion within party ranks against Roja picks up momentum

Tirupati: Tourism minister R.K. Roja is facing an open rebellion from within YSRC ahead of the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. Following widespread reports that Roja will get the YSRC ticket again from the Nagari Assembly seat, a storm of allegations has broken out against the high-profile minister. The spark that lit the blaze came from Puttur municipality’s 17th ward councillor Bhuvaneshwari, a Dalit woman. She has accused the minister of demanding from her a bribe of Rs 70 lakh for making her the chairperson of the Puttur civic body.

The corporator claimed that Roja’s brother Kumara Swamy Reddy has already taken Rs 40 lakh from her in three instalments. But she did not get the post. She alleged that Kumara Swamy started harassing her when she wanted the money to be returned. Bhuvaneshwari claimed that when she contacted Roja, the latter told her that she would return the money two and a half years later.

This deadline passed in September 2022. “When I asked Roja about the money she directed me to contact her brother for the money. But he has refused. His followers are now harassing me,” Bhuvaneswari charged. She requested Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to intervene and do just justice for a Dalit woman.

In a recent Zilla Parishad meeting in Chittoor, Nagari, Vadamalapet, Nindra and Puttur ZPTC members also accused the minister of blocking funds for implementing development works in their territorial constituencies. Vadamalapet ZPTC Muralidhar Reddy declared that he helped Roja secure a majority in the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections.

But she has neither rewarded him nor is she sanctioning funds for constructing rooms in the mandal parishad office. “We have told the CM that Roja will lose if given a ticket this time. But he is silent. We again request him not to give her the ticket. Otherwise, she will lose for sure,” Muralidhar asserted. Minister Roja has trashed these claims as a political conspiracy. But the allegations against the most visible woman leader are continuing.