Amaravati: A man who works for the social wing of YSR Congress party, was detained on Friday for posting allegedly objectionable content on multiple platforms against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Ravi Kiran Inturi was taken from his residence at Shamshabad around 3:30 am by a police team.
“They woke up my husband and asked him to accompany them. When I questioned who they were, one of them identified himself as a cop from Tulluru and said they were taking my husband to question him on the comments he had posted on the Facebook on the TDP leaders. They have not told me where they were taking my husband,” Inturi’s wife was quoted as saying.
However, Tulluru police, while acknowledging that a case had been filed, did not confirm the arrest. They further said investigation is underway.
This comes in the wake of Lokesh asking fellow leaders to initiate criminal action against those "tarnishing our image".
"The (mainstream) media is favourable to us but we have no control over the social media and there is a lot of negative propaganda against us. We have to curb this," he is said to have told party leaders in a PowerPoint presentation during the coordination meeting recently.
"If we start taking criminal action against those making critical posts, it will be a deterrent to others," Lokesh, the son of chief minister Naidu, said.
What ostensibly angered Lokesh, who only days ago became an MLC and a minister, was the way he was increasingly targeted on social media platforms over his public utterances.
Video clips of his communication skills went viral on social media in recent days and apparently showed him in a "very poor light".
Two days ago, for example, he extended "greetings" to people at a public meeting on the occasion of 126th "vardhanti" (death anniversary) of Dr B R Ambedkar, whereas it was the birth anniversary.
The way he fumbled, unable to clearly recite certain words in Telugu, while taking oath as an MLC or his speech at an election meeting wherein he said voting on "cycle" (TDP's poll symbol) was akin to "hanging yourself" and another instance where he said the TDP was the only party that was "casteist, communal, corrupt and money-minded" all exposed Lokesh, as the videos were circulated widely on the social media.
His presentation to the party on "media feedback" came against this backdrop, party insiders said. And hence, Lokesh's call for criminal action against those who are circulating such posts, they said.
