VISAKHAPATNAM: Brushing aside criticism by TDP that she has no right to head her family’s MANSAS Trust and the Simhachalam Varahalakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthanam Trust Board, Sanchaita Gajapati Raju asserts that she will live up to the challenge and uphold the legacy of her grandfather PVG Raju and the glory of the institutions run by MANSAS.
“A woman has been appointed as chairperson for the first time, and that too, just before International Women’s Day. It will be a challenging task and I’m up for it,” the social activist-cum-politician told TNIE in an exclusive interview. Expressing her gratitude to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for the opportunity, she said, “Gender equality is something the government really believes in.”
She clarified that she is no one’s proxy and had gone alone to submit her representation to the Endowments department staking her rightful claim to head the MANSAS Trust. She insists that she was chosen on the basis of merit. “MANSAS is a family society started by my grandfather PVG Raju. When he passed away, my father, the eldest legal heir, became chairman. As my sister passed away, I am now the eldest legal heir,” she said. In the same breath, she made it known that she owns neither a palace nor a car. “I use Uber to travel,” she said.