WARANGAL: The controversy between Station Ghanpur ruling BRS MLA Thatikonda Rajaiah and Navya, sarpanch of Janakipuram village in Dharmasagar mandal of Jangaon district, has started once again.
Addressing media in Janakipuram on Wednesday, sarpanch Navya said the MLA is forcing her to sign bond papers for releasing ₹20 lakh funds for the development of the village. “Moreover, Rajaiah wants me to hand over to him the audio recording of his lewd talk with me in the past in exchange for the funds,” Navya alleged.
Three months ago, Navya had accused the Station Ghanpur MLA, who had earlier been the deputy chief minister, of sexually harassing her and creating hurdles in taking up development works in Janakipuram whenever she approached him for funds.
The sarpanch said not only her, but Rajaiah had also been similarly harassing other women sarpanches with lewd and sometimes indecent language, and forcibly talked to them for hours on the phone.
The very day Navya made the allegation, the MLA condemned the comments saying leaders of opposition parties and some of his opponents within BRS are provoking the Janakipuram sarpanch into making such charges, so that his rising popularity among people in Station Ghanpur constituency comes down.
The State Women’s Commission took up Navya’s matter suo motu and issued order for an inquiry against MLA Rajaiah.
Two days later, Rajaiah visited the house of Navya and publicly sought apology from her in front of the villagers. He also immediately sanctioned ₹25 lakh for development of Janakipuram.
Accepting his apology, Navya said she respects the MLA, as he had helped her get the BRS ticket and enabled her to win the election for becoming the village sarpanch. She went on to say that BRS is like a family and she is willing to forget whatever happened between her and the MLA, provided he behaves decently. assures that such kind of incidents do not occur again.
At the press conference on Wednesday, sarpanch Navya asked why she should sign a bond paper for receiving ₹20 lakh for village development. “Am I taking a personal loan from him,” she asked.
Navya said owing to pressure exerted by the MLA and his followers, her husband Praveen is forcing her to compromise with Rajaiah. She, however, maintained that she is not going to leave the matter alone. She will take the matter to the notice of BRS party leadership, so that the MLA stops harassing her and her husband.
Meanwhile, Navya lodged a complaint against MLA Rajaiah and her husband Praveen and against five others who are the followers of the MLA in Dharmasagar police station alleging that they are trying to take her signatures on a bond paper forcibly by threatening her.
However, in a major twist, Navya’s husband Praveen who learnt that Navya is going to lodge a complaint rushed to the police station and speaking to press persons accepted that he took Rs.7 lakh from MLA Rajaiah without her knowledge and also tried to exert pressure on his wife Navya to sign the bond papers.
